Spencer Pratt LA mayor is no longer a punchline. The former reality television star, best known from MTV’s The Hills, finished in second place in early returns from the June 2 Los Angeles primary election, forcing a November runoff against incumbent Mayor Karen Bass that nobody in the city’s political establishment predicted a year ago. His campaign began in the ashes of his Palisades home. It may end inside City Hall.
Who Is Spencer Pratt and Why Is He Running for LA Mayor?
Spencer Pratt has the endorsement of President Donald Trump in the race for Los Angeles mayor. He entered the race as a political unknown with a famous face, running explicitly on the argument that Karen Bass failed Los Angeles during the Palisades Fire. Intellectia.AI
Pratt, who lost his home in the Palisades Fire, has blamed Bass for what he sees as the city’s incompetent response to the fire and the recovery process. That framing turned a personal loss into a political platform and gave him an emotional authenticity that campaign consultants could not manufacture. ChartMill
The January 2025 fire killed 12 people and burned nearly 7,000 structures. Property and capital losses were between $76 billion and $131 billion, without accounting for insurance or settlement proceeds, according to the UCLA Anderson School of Management. Pratt’s own burned home became the visual centerpiece of his campaign: a wealthy outsider who had real skin in the game. ChartMill
Pratt has cast Bass as an icon of failed Democratic leadership on issues like crime, homelessness, and drug use. That message found an audience well beyond Pacific Palisades. Intellectia.AI
Spencer Pratt LA Mayor Primary Results: Where He Stands After June 2
Early results Tuesday night in the closely watched election for Los Angeles mayor showed incumbent Karen Bass leading the pack, reality TV star Spencer Pratt running in second place, and City Councilmember Nithya Raman rounding out the top three vote-getters. Bleacher Report
With almost 50% of the expected vote counted, incumbent LA Mayor Karen Bass was leading the pack at 37%, followed by Spencer Pratt and Nithya Raman. ESPN
ABC News projected that incumbent Karen Bass would advance to the November runoff for Los Angeles mayor. The second spot in that runoff, whether it goes to Pratt or Raman, was not yet called as counting continued into the early hours of June 3. ESPN
Pratt said he looked forward to debating Bass again and furthering his message of aggressively enforcing laws against unhoused drug users. His election night remarks were confident and forward-looking, signaling a campaign that believes its best argument is still ahead. Bleacher Report
How the Palisades Fire Turned Spencer Pratt Into a Political Force
Bass faced criticism for her handling of the January 2025 Palisades Fire, which broke out while she was on a diplomatic trip to Ghana. She rushed back to Los Angeles as the wildfire tore through Pacific Palisades and Malibu, ultimately destroying more than 15,000 structures and killing 12 people. Intellectia.AI
That moment, Bass abroad while Los Angeles burned, became Pratt’s founding political narrative. He returned to it constantly throughout the campaign and it resonated across different income levels and neighborhoods, not just in the wealthy Westside enclaves most directly affected by the fire.
A recent poll by UC Berkeley and the Los Angeles Times showed a closely contested race among the top three candidates, with Bass leading at 26% support among likely voters. Raman followed closely at 25%, with Pratt at 22%. Intellectia.AI
Mark DiCamillo, director of the Berkeley IGS poll, noted that Bass, Raman, and Pratt are “three very different candidates, each with very different constituencies, all within the margin of error,” adding: “It’s going to boil down to turnout.” Intellectia.AI
Turnout broke Pratt’s way in enough precincts to put him in the runoff position heading into the night’s count. Whether that holds as mail-in ballots are counted over the coming weeks will determine whether Los Angeles gets the Bass-Pratt November showdown that would instantly become one of the most watched municipal elections in the country.
Spencer Pratt’s Platform: Crime, Homelessness, and the Palisades
On homelessness, Pratt has focused on drug treatment and has promised to “get rid of” unhoused people. He prioritizes policing, cracking down on retail theft, and enforcing quality of life and public safety laws. ChartMill
On police, Pratt has said he intends to prioritize the LAPD. The size of the Los Angeles Police Department has dropped to fewer than 8,700 officers, down from 10,000 just a few years ago. ChartMill
On housing, Pratt opposed SB 79, wrongly claiming it would bring high-rises to the Pacific Palisades. His housing stance is among the most scrutinized elements of his platform, given that the city’s core challenge is a severe shortage of affordable units that requires more density, not less. ChartMill
On the Palisades Fire recovery specifically, Pratt has called for faster permitting, more aggressive federal disaster funding advocacy, and accountability for the response failures he documented from personal experience. That specificity, grounded in the lived experience of losing his own home, gives the argument a texture that distinguishes it from standard Republican critique.
Karen Bass vs Spencer Pratt: What a November Runoff Would Look Like
Bass told supporters she appreciated support when others doubted her. “I love you. I appreciate you. I appreciate you for believing in me,” she said. Bass predicted she will win in November. Bleacher Report
Bass has touted a reported 6% decline in the number of unhoused people in the city over the past two years as evidence of Inside Safe’s success. She also earned endorsements from Governor Gavin Newsom and former Vice President Kamala Harris, giving her institutional Democratic support that Pratt cannot match. ChartMill
A Bass-Pratt November runoff would pit two of the most different possible candidates against each other. Bass is a career politician with decades of progressive organizing and federal service behind her. Pratt is a television personality with no prior government experience whose entire campaign is built on anger at what happened in January 2025.
Los Angeles is home to nearly 4 million people. Many are struggling to pay rent. Some are trying to rebuild their homes after fires. Others want to move from the street into permanent housing, or are navigating their lives under the threat of federal immigration raids, or are struggling to find work in the entertainment industry. The candidate who speaks most convincingly to that breadth of concern will win in November. ChartMill
Nithya Raman’s Campaign and the Democratic Split That Helped Pratt
Nithya Raman blamed a “MAGA machine” for advancing a “dark agenda” against her campaign’s vision for a city that works for everyone. “We believe that Angelenos were hungry for that vision, and we were right,” Raman said at her election night event. Bleacher Report
Raman’s presence in the race was the structural factor most beneficial to Pratt. By splitting the progressive vote with Bass, Raman compressed the incumbent’s margin enough to allow Pratt to capitalize on consolidated right-of-center support. That dynamic is a textbook jungle primary outcome: a divided majority produces a runoff between candidates who would not have both advanced under a traditional partisan primary.
Raman wanted to maintain LAPD staffing levels while improving 911 response times, and has said there are cheaper approaches to homelessness that could house more people. She pledged to cut street homelessness in half by the 2028 Games. Whether she endorses Bass or withholds her endorsement heading into November will significantly shape the runoff. ChartMill
Latest Updates
Results continued coming in through the early hours of June 3, 2026. KTLA confirmed that the June 2 California primary emerged as a three-way battle between Bass, Raman, and Spencer Pratt, who holds the endorsement of President Trump, with early returns showing Pratt in second place behind Bass. LAist reported that Bass addressed supporters at her election night event pledging to keep fighting, while Pratt signaled he was looking forward to debating Bass in the general election. The LA Times live results tracker confirmed that vote counting in LA County will continue through June 26, with final certification required by July 10. Intellectia.AIBleacher Report
Full sources: LA Times | KTLA | LAist
Broader Implications
Spencer Pratt advancing to a November runoff for mayor of the nation’s second-largest city is a story about more than one candidate. It is about what happens when a major urban crisis, the Palisades Fire, goes politically unresolved for 16 months. It is about whether the celebrity-to-politics pipeline that produced Donald Trump’s presidency can operate at the municipal level. And it is about whether Los Angeles Democrats, who dominate the city’s registration rolls, can unite around an incumbent who has faced sustained criticism from both the left and the right.
The structural challenge for Bass is now a two-front war. She has to consolidate Raman’s progressive voters while also defending against Pratt’s insurgent energy. Pratt’s challenge is even simpler to describe and harder to execute: he has to convince enough people who did not vote for him in the primary that he is ready to govern a $14 billion city organization he has never worked in.
That conversation, beginning now, will define Los Angeles politics for the rest of 2026.
For more coverage of politics, elections, and local news, visit The Tech Marketer.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Who is Spencer Pratt and why is he running for LA mayor? Spencer Pratt is a former reality television star best known from MTV’s The Hills. He entered the 2026 Los Angeles mayoral race after losing his Pacific Palisades home in the January 2025 Palisades Fire. His campaign is built on criticism of Mayor Karen Bass’s handling of the fire and broader Democratic governance of Los Angeles on homelessness, crime, and housing.
2. How did Spencer Pratt do in the LA mayor primary on June 2, 2026? Spencer Pratt finished in second place in early returns from the June 2 primary, trailing incumbent Mayor Karen Bass who led at approximately 37%. With roughly half the expected votes counted, Pratt appeared on track to advance to a November runoff, though the second spot was not formally called as vote counting continued.
3. What is Spencer Pratt’s platform for Los Angeles mayor? Pratt’s platform focuses on aggressive law enforcement of homelessness laws, drug treatment programs, increased LAPD staffing, Palisades Fire recovery accountability, faster rebuilding permits, and cracking down on retail theft and crime. He opposes SB 79, the state law allowing denser housing near transit hubs.
4. What happens next in the LA mayor race after the June 2 primary? If no candidate received more than 50% of the vote, the top two finishers advance to the November 3 general election runoff. With Karen Bass projected to advance, the race will be a head-to-head contest in November, likely between Bass and Pratt, pending final vote counts through late June.
5. Who are Spencer Pratt’s opponents in the LA mayor race? Pratt’s two main opponents were incumbent Mayor Karen Bass and City Councilmember Nithya Raman, a democratic socialist and former Bass ally who challenged from the left. The three-way primary split LA’s electorate enough to prevent any candidate from reaching the 50% threshold needed to win outright.
