Wave of voter discontent carries Republican Spencer Pratt into striking distance of L.A. Mayor Bass
by Seth McLaughlin · The Washington TimesRepublican Spencer Pratt is trying to ride the political change wave into a two-person runoff against Democratic Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass in California’s jungle primary Tuesday.
Best known as the bad boy from the MTV reality show “The Hills,” which he starred in alongside his now-wife, Heidi Montag, the former reality television star is seizing on a palpable sense that voters are fed up with what they see — and are willing to try something else, no matter how unconventional that might be.
The phenomenon has already reshaped politics outside California. In Texas, voters recently ousted four-term Sen. John Cornyn in favor of Attorney General Ken Paxton, trading traditional Capitol Hill experience for a more hard-charging, take-no-prisoners approach. In Maine, progressive outsider Graham Platner is poised to capture the Democratic nomination and currently leads in polls against five-term Sen. Susan Collins, who has represented the state for nearly three decades.
Now, that same change wave will be tested in Tinseltown.
The mayoral race has become a referendum on Ms. Bass’ handling of the 2025 wildfires and her record on homelessness, public safety and the cost of living.
A Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll released Thursday underscored her vulnerability, with the race effectively narrowing into a three-way fight among the incumbent — who is backed by former Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Gavin Newsom — Mr. Pratt, and Democratic City Councilmember Nithya Raman, who initially endorsed Ms. Bass before jumping into the race.
The survey found Ms. Bass leading Ms. Raman by a slim 26% to 25%, with Mr. Pratt close behind at 22%. Support for the mayor has stalled since March, while both Ms. Raman, who is running to the left of Ms.Bass, and Mr. Pratt have climbed eight points over that span.
Ms. Bass is still dealing with blowback over how her administration responded to the Palisades fires that devastated parts of the city — a failure that has given Mr. Pratt, who lost his home in the disaster, a potent way to anchor his message.
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Mr. Pratt’s bid was treated as more of a sideshow early on, but months later, he is well within striking distance.
Mr. Pratt has harnessed the power of artificial intelligence — amplifying AI-generated campaign videos depicting him as a Batman-like savior of a city in the midst of collapse — that have captured the attention of politicos across the nation.
“The ads matter because they are breaking through,” said Matt Klink, a Los Angeles-based Republican strategist. “They only matter politically if they reinforce a larger argument about Los Angeles, its failures, its leadership, and the choice facing voters. Otherwise, the ads by Spencer Pratt’s campaign and ads produced by others are just viral fireworks: bright, loud, and gone by morning.”
The buzz has translated into cash.
Between April 19 and May 16, Mr. Pratt raised $2.72 million — nearly seven times the $400,000 hauled in by Ms. Raman and roughly 10 times the $283,000 raised by Ms. Bass over the same period.
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A registered Republican running in a nonpartisan race in one of the country’s most reliably Democratic cities, Mr. Pratt has sought to scramble traditional political lines. He said his donors and day-to-day supporters are overwhelmingly Democrats fed up with Ms. Bass. “Democrats are very angry with what happened to Los Angeles,” he said during a recent appearance on Fox and Friends. “All of the people that put her actually in office are now behind me.”
“People want an outsider that’s not a politician that’s just saying the facts, the truth,” he said. “These people have failed us. They have spent all of our tax money to increase problems.”
Still, he faces an uphill climb in a county where only 19% of voters are registered Republicans, and that is home to a well-oiled Democratic machine.
The jury is out on whether he can translate all the buzz around his insurgent bid into becoming the city’s first Republican mayor since Richard Riordan left office in 2001.
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For her part, Ms. Bass has touted her roots as a native Angeleno and cast herself as a shield against President Trump and his policies, including his immigration enforcement efforts and the deployment of National Guard troops to the city last year.
She has argued that her experience and her record on crime, homelessness and new housing set her apart from her challengers and make her the only candidate prepared to lead the nation’s second-largest city.
“This is not new to me,” she said at a recent campaign event. At another stop, she told voters, “We are beginning to turn things around, but the bottom line is — I am not finished.”
Voters in California will also be casting their ballots in the wide-open race to succeed term-limited Gov. Newsom.
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Former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and former Fox News host Steve Hilton are considered the frontrunners, followed by billionaire activist Tom Steyer.
The last time a Republican won the governorship was 2006, when Arnold Schwarzenegger secured reelection.
In San Francisco, for the first time in nearly 40 years, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s powerful seat will have an open primary. Ms. Pelosi has held the seat since 1987. State Sen. Scott Wiener, San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan and Saikat Chakrabarti, a former chief of staff to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, are running.
Meanwhile, in the Central Valley, Democrats are mounting their most serious challenge in years against Rep. David Valadao, one of the last remaining Republicans holding a highly competitive House seat in the state.
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Redistricting boosted the Democrats’ chances, but the race in the 22nd congressional district is still considered a toss-up.
The Democratic primary to challenge Mr. Valadao has turned into a bitter internal feud. State assemblywoman Jasmeet Bains, a physician, is running as a moderate against Randy Villegas, a college professor backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent who is the forebearer of today’s socialist uprising within the Democratic Party.
The race highlighted intraparty divisions after the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee reversed an earlier neutrality pledge to throw its late support behind the moderate Ms. Bains, angering liberal grassroots activists.
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Seth McLaughlin
smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com
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