Los Angeles City Councilwoman Nithya Raman has criticized Spencer Pratt, a competitor in the city’s mayoral race, for filming a segment of his campaign advertisement outside her residence in a high-end neighborhood.
Pratt, recognized for his role on the reality TV show ‘The Hills’, unveiled the ad on Wednesday. He claimed that neither Raman nor Mayor Karen Bass face the difficulties of the homelessness crisis firsthand, as they reside in comfortable neighborhoods.
In the ad, Pratt is seen in front of Raman’s home in Silver Lake, saying, “This is where Mayor Bass lives. Notice anything? Or here, where Nithya Raman’s $3 million mansion stands. They don’t have to live in the mess they’ve created.”
The advertisement transitions to scenes of Pratt walking next to streets lined with numerous homeless encampments.
Pratt also criticized Raman and Bass for their handling of the Los Angeles wildfires that broke out early last year. This issue is particularly significant to him since the Palisades Fire destroyed his own home.
Since then, Pratt has been residing in a trailer with his wife, Heidi Montag, and their two children, a situation he highlights in his campaign ad.
On Thursday, Raman issued the following statement to Us Weekly through a campaign spokesperson: ‘Filming outside my home, where I live with my young children, feels unnecessary and reckless.’
Pratt poked fun at Raman in a response of his own on Friday, saying she is ‘validating the entire premise of our commercial’.
Spencer Pratt, a candidate for Los Angeles mayor, is seen in his campaign ad filming outside the home of Nithya Raman. He claimed Raman and incumbent Mayor Karen Bass, who is running for re-election ‘don’t have to live in the mess they’ve created’
The ad then cut to Pratt walking down a street that had numerous homeless encampments
Through a campaign spokesperson, Raman condemned Pratt for filming in front of her home, saying it felt ‘unnecessary and reckless’
‘She doesn’t care if there’s homeless drug addicts in front of your home, in front of your kids (sic) school, but God help her if a man in a suit takes a picture on the public street for two minutes,’ he wrote in a post on social media.
Raman has a master’s degree in urban planning from MIT. In 2017, several years after moving to LA, she founded a homelessness outreach nonprofit called SELAH Neighborhood Homeless Coalition.
She pivoted to politics in 2020, winning a seat on the LA City Council with homelessness being her most campaigned-on issue.
In 2021, Raman opposed broadening LA Municipal Code Section 41.18 to ban sitting, sleeping, or storing property in specified enforcement zones.
In 2022, the city council approved an amendment to 41.18 that expanded bans on any type of loitering within 500 feet of schools and daycares, something Raman also voted against.
In a statement announcing her ‘no’ vote on that amendment, she argued that the city was merely ‘shuffling people around’ instead of focusing on building enough homeless shelters and affordable housing.
‘I don’t want to see any encampments around schools, daycares, or anywhere else in LA. And that is why my team has prioritized actually getting people in encampments in these areas into housing and shelter,’ she said at the time.
In April of this year, Raman did not support adding an anti-camping zone in the Rose Avenue area of Venice, which has been dealing with a growing homeless population. The measure passed.
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Raman has been against efforts to tighten restrictions on homeless encampments. In April, she voted against a measure to add an anti-camping zone in the Rose Avenue area of Venice (Pictured: Rose Avenue homeless tents on March 18, 2026)
The primary for the Los Angeles mayoral race is scheduled for June 2. Bass (pictured) is generally ahead in most polls, though her lead is tenous and threatened by Raman
Pratt has emerged as a third option and is rising in popularity. He still consistently polls below Bass and Raman
She angered locals by shrugging her shoulders and rolling her eyes when asked about the prospective dangers of homeless encampments near schools.
The primary for the Los Angeles mayoral race is scheduled for June 2. Unlike party-run primaries in Democratic and Republican contests, California has had a non-partisan system since 2011, allowing candidates of any political affiliation to run.
The top two vote-getters will advance to the general election on November 3. If a candidate wins the primary with more than 50 percent of the vote, they will be elected outright and take office in December.
Most polls show that Bass is leading the crowded field, which includes Raman, Pratt and 13 other lesser known candidates.
Raman, however, polled at 33 percent to Bass’s 17 percent in a March survey taken by Loyola Marymount University Center for the Study of Los Angeles. In that poll, Pratt came in fifth at 12 percent.
Users on Kalshi, a platform for predictive bets, believe Raman has a 53 percent chance to win, whereas Pratt and Bass are neck and neck at 23 percent and 22 percent, respectively.
