Once upon a time in Hollywood, Spencer Pratt played the villain of Los Angeles. Now, the former reality TV star is hoping to become its savior.
Pratt, who starred in the MTV reality show The Hills, is front and center again in LA, comfortably playing the role of an outsider political candidate ready to take on an establishment Democratic machine that has failed to address public safety concerns in one of America’s great cities. Can the MAGA-adjacent Pratt, who has pitched beefing up the city’s police force and addressing water concerns after the fallout from the Palisades Fire, actually win a race in a city that is among the most liberal in the country? Probably not. But for Pratt, the LA mayoral race is likely less about winning and more about excelling in an environment that can act as a proving ground. And the early results are undoubtedly impressive.
An Angeleno by birth, the 42-year-old Pratt decided to run for mayor after the Palisades fire in January of 2025 destroyed his home and thousands of others. Pratt formally launched his campaign at a rally titled “They Let Us Burn” on the one-year anniversary of the fire, which killed 12 people. He promised to “expose the system” that had failed to adequately respond to the disaster. Utilizing his massive social media brand, the former TV star had already ignited considerable buzz across social media in the lead up to last week’s primetime debate between himself, Mayor Karen Bass, and LA city councilmember Nithya Raman.
But it was Pratt’s performance on Wednesday night that prompted many leading pundits, especially on the MAGA right, to tout his future and crown him a rising political star. Throughout the evening, Pratt remained cool and collected, easily navigating the key issues of the night: homelessness, public safety, and the highly destructive fire that kick-started his political aspirations. “I will never drain the reservoirs that we need for wildfire protection,” Pratt promised, accusing Bass of failing to keep the reservoirs filled. “They were… made for wildfire protection. As mayor, I’m going to add 20 dipsites all around the communities connecting to pools… for the helicopters to have water.”
When he wasn’t criticizing Bass and Raman for their failure to stop the raging fire in the Pacific Palisades, Pratt promised to boost the city’s police force and put an end to the Syringe Service Programs, which provide drug addicts on the streets of LA with sterile needles and life-saving naloxone that reverses opioid overdoses. “I hope we have the FBI, the DEA, the CDC, the ATF,” Pratt proclaimed, promising to work with President Donald Trump’s administration to address public safety issues in the city. “I’ve talked to thousands of moms a week; they do not feel safe in the streets, no matter what these crime statistics are telling anybody.”
Hours before the debate on Wednesday, federal agents with the DEA worked with local officers in a drug raid that arrested 18 suspects in LA’s MacArthur Park. The action took 40 pounds of fentanyl off the streets and prompted renewed discussion from business leaders in the area regarding rampant drug use that has threatened the safety of citizens. Norm Langer, owner of Langer’s Deli, commended the efforts of both federal and local officials to address drug problems in the city. “My main message that I’m trying to get out there is that I want to see the needle program giveaway disbanded in the park,” Langer told ABC.
Though Pratt is being suddenly and widely praised by the MAGA movement on social media sites like X, he himself has attempted to appear neutral in a race where being labeled a Republican means a certain loss. “If Newsom and Bass were Republicans, I’d be doing the exact same thing: spitting facts,” Pratt told the Hollywood Reporter in October of 2025 as his campaign began to gain momentum. And on Wednesday, Pratt took the road less traveled by MAGA, often presenting as polite and mild-mannered instead of brash toward his opponents.
When the drug raid at MacArthur Park was mentioned, Pratt commended Bass for funding the police and working with Trump’s federal forces. And when Bass was cut off by moderators while attempting to respond to criticism from Raman, Pratt quietly noted that the incumbent mayor wished to respond and listened as Bass rejected criticism from the city councilwoman.
But to claim Pratt wishes to remain an independent force in the LA mayor race and beyond would undersell the messaging he has promoted to his more than four million followers across major social media sites. For example, in a September post to X replying to one of the most rabid pro-Trump accounts on X, Pratt said that he wished Dr. Anthony Fauci was “in a black site.”
And in a series of AI-generated ads recently published by Pratt’s campaign, the former TV star fashions himself as a superhero fighting against the villainous and clown-costumed Bass. In one of those ads, an AI version of podcaster Joe Rogan appears. If there ever was an in-group signal to MAGA, this was it. Rogan, a disaffected liberal who met with Trump in the Oval Office two weeks ago, spent months complaining about the ineptitude of Los Angeles before finally relocating his home and podcasting studio to Austin, Texas. His inclusion in Pratt’s campaign propaganda is proof that the mayoral candidate feels comfortable in MAGA garb.
And by Thursday morning, major MAGA accounts were in full support mode, claiming Pratt to be a warrior for truth in a sea of insidious liberal lies. The Free Press called him a “genius.” And some even went so far as to suggest Pratt might one day become president of the United States. A man who blew through his entire $10 million net worth via expensive wine, $30,000 shopping sprees, and a crystal collection valued at $1 million was suddenly being pitched as the next great west coast Republican. The MAGA machine had found its newest star.
Fox News personalities also loved Pratt’s performance. Former White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany was practically giddy, arguing that Republicans in Congress need to “wake up and get a little Spencer Pratt in you.” McEnany said Pratt’s debate performance was “phenomenal” before expressly laying out the Pratt political project: “He has laid out a model that we as the GOP cannot surrender blue states. We can’t surrender blue cities. We have to stand up and fight for conservatives everywhere.”
The nonpartisan primary for mayor will be held on June 2 and a candidate can win the race outright by receiving more than 50 percent of the vote. Bass currently leads by double digits in polling conducted before the debate, and even if Pratt can make it to a runoff, it’s doubtful he can turn the tide against a mayor who is still well-liked in the city despite heavy criticism from Republicans nationally. And should Bass and Pratt find themselves in a two-person runoff, much of Raman’s overwhelmingly liberal support will naturally find its way toward Bass.
But the bigger picture here is that Pratt’s campaign may be a launching pad. The votes are simply never going to be there for a Republican-aligned candidate who questions the Democratic elite in one of America’s most liberal cities. To outside observers, Pratt’s campaign increasingly resembles a testing ground for wider ambitions, both statewide and nationally. Those ambitions are already attracting the kind of donors and media attention that could fuel a future statewide run.
Whether or not Pratt ever wins elected office, his emergence suggests Republicans today see celebrity, viral fluency, and cultural grievance, not traditional governance, as the clearest path back into deep-blue cities. And that’s a political project that extends beyond Pratt.
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