Spencer Pratt, best known as the drama-stirring villain from MTV's The Hills in the 2000s, has emerged as a legitimate contender in the Los Angeles mayoral race, according to a new poll released Thursday. The Republican political outsider sits at 22% support among likely voters, trailing Democratic front-runner and current Mayor Karen Bass by just 4 percentage points ahead of Tuesday's primary election.
The UC Berkeley-LA Times poll found Bass leading with 26% support, while Democratic city council member Nithya Raman held 25%. The race marks an unusual dynamic in a city where nearly 65% of voters backed Kamala Harris in the last presidential contest and where no Republican has won the mayor's office since 2001. More than three dozen candidates are competing in Tuesday's non-partisan primary, with any candidate needing 50% or more to win outright; otherwise, the top two advance to November.
What the Right Is Saying
Pratt has run on a message of fixing what he calls a broken Los Angeles, casting the city as unsafe and unclean. He has advocated mandatory drug treatment to address homelessness and has centered much of his campaign on criticizing Bass's response to the 2025 fires that destroyed thousands of homes.
"I may not have the experience, but I have the common sense to say this is not working," Pratt said in a recent interview.
His campaign rhetoric echoes themes from former President Donald Trump's political movement. "We are going to get the golden age of Los Angeles back," Pratt states in campaign advertisements. Trump himself recently offered encouragement when asked about Pratt at a press availability.
"I'd like to see him do well," Trump said. "He's a character. I heard he's a big Maga person. He's doing well."
Marty Kaplan, a professor of entertainment, media and society at the University of Southern California, said the celebrity-turned-political figure has an inherent advantage in modern politics.
"The audience has now been accustomed to want to be entertained," Kaplan said. "A candidate who can have a story that makes you want to know what happens next... that's what we want."
What the Left Is Saying
Democratic critics have questioned Pratt's qualifications and fitness for office. Bass, who has deep roots in Los Angeles community organizing, offered sharp criticism at a campaign event Monday.
"It's not just that he has no experience in city government," Bass said. "I don't know that he's ever held a job in his life other than to be a reality TV star. I think he doesn't know the issues. He's operating out of anger."
Raman, who has sought to frame the race as a choice between competence and celebrity, called Pratt an anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist and argued he is not offering realistic solutions to the city's challenges.
Efrén Pérez, a professor of political psychology at UCLA who has worked as a political consultant, said Pratt's appeal remains narrow despite his polling strength. "That wealthy slice of LA is not representative of the entire city," Pérez said, noting that one of the devastating 2025 fires struck the affluent Pacific Palisades enclave where Pratt lived.
What the Numbers Show
Fundraising figures reveal Pratt's financial dominance in the race. Between April 19 and May 16, Pratt raised $2.7 million—nearly 10 times the approximately $270,000 Bass collected in the same period and roughly seven times the roughly $385,000 Raman brought in.
The polling gap is tight but significant: Bass at 26%, Raman at 25%, and Pratt at 22%. With three dozen candidates splitting remaining support, the top three are clustered within a 4-point margin.
Los Angeles has not elected a Republican mayor since Richard Riordan left office in 2001—25 years ago. In Los Angeles County, nearly 65% of voters supported Harris over Trump in the last presidential election.
The Bottom Line
Tuesday's primary will test whether celebrity name recognition and substantial fundraising can overcome structural Democratic advantages in one of America's largest cities. If no candidate reaches 50%, Pratt appears well-positioned to advance to a November general election against either Bass or Raman, setting up what would be an unusual Republican general election bid in deeply blue Los Angeles.
Political observers note the race reflects broader national trends of celebrity candidates and anti-establishment sentiment. As Kaplan observed, "There's a big leap between running for office and campaigning... and then getting your hands dirty for the long haul." Whether Pratt can make that transition—and whether LA voters will embrace it—will become clearer after votes are counted Tuesday.