Ex-reality show star turned Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt appears to have a meaningful shot of finishing in the top two, as the California primary election looms on Tuesday.
A recent UC Berkeley-L.A. Times poll shows Pratt in third place, but within striking distance of both incumbent Democratic Mayor Karen Bass and City Council member Nithya Raman, both Democrats. Bass currently has the support of 26% of voters, with Raman at 25%, and Pratt closely behind at 22%. The same poll shows that 10% of voters are still undecided. Whoever finishes in the top two will go on to face each other in the November general election if no candidate receives a majority.
Pratt, a registered Republican who is running as an independent, has waged an insurgent campaign that has attracted national attention due to his viral ads, some produced using AI. He represents the latest in Californian voter backlash against Democratic policies on crime and homelessness, something that also became a defining feature of San Francisco local politics since 2020. Pratt has railed against Mayor Bass and Democratic-aligned non-governmental organizations (NGOs,) accusing them of worsening Los Angeles’s homelessness and drug problem. He has pledged to “[…] have full accountability and transparency for every dollar of our tax money, not just in this homeless industrial complex scam,” should he become Mayor.
Similar to then-candidate Donald J. Trump’s first campaign in the 2016 primary election, Pratt’s opponents have portrayed him as an unserious choice due to his lack of political background. Also similar to Trump’s upset victory, Pratt is undoubtedly benefiting from his outsider status and lack of filter in calling out LA’s political establishment. While much attention has been given to the tenor of his campaign, his idea of mandatory treatment combined with enforcement for homeless drug addicts is one that is held by a wide swath of voters, and something that certain Democratic politicians in the state have at least paid lip service to.
If Pratt’s mayoral opponents had the capacity for self-reflection, they might ask themselves why they, the more “serious” candidates, face such a significant backlash from voters in a solidly Democratic city. Regardless of whether Pratt advances in the race, he has demonstrated California Democrats do not have an ironclad grip on their voters, provided you focus on their core policy failures.
