LOS ANGELES — Spencer Pratt, known for his memoir “The Guy You Loved to Hate” and his venture into rap with the track “I’m a Celebrity,” as well as founding a company marketing crystals with alleged healing powers, has faced a setback in his latest endeavor.
Pratt, former reality star, failed to qualify for the upcoming November runoff in his unlikely quest to become the mayor of Los Angeles. The Associated Press confirmed on Monday that he will not be challenging the current mayor, Karen Bass, who has been mired in controversy.
Instead, Bass will be competing against Nithya Raman, a city council member with progressive leanings who has consistently critiqued the incumbent from the left. Pratt, a Republican with backing from former President Donald Trump, aimed to rally support from his days on “The Hills,” a reality show centered around young adults in Los Angeles, and leveraged AI-generated videos to amplify his campaign.
His campaign was driven by a desire to tackle the persistent issues of homelessness, crime, and urban decay that have increasingly overshadowed the city’s celebrated culinary offerings, picturesque landscapes, and its status as a global entertainment hub. “Enough is enough,” Pratt frequently declared while campaigning.
Vote counting from the June 2 primary stretched for days, a common occurrence in a state where the slow process often breeds frustration and speculation. Last Friday, Pratt shared an image of himself outside city hall, captioned with a simple but telling word: “Patience.”
Officials spent days tallying votes from the June 2 primary, typical in a state where slow counting has made the process a target for frustration and conspiracy theories. On Friday, Pratt posted photos of himself outside city hall with a single word – “Patience.”
No Republican has won a mayor’s race in Los Angeles since 1997, and Pratt faced a steep climb as a first-time candidate. His political ambitions were forged by tragedy that added grit to his tabloid backstory. His house was one of thousands destroyed in last year’s Palisades Fire, the most destructive in city history.
“This is where I live,” Pratt said in a campaign video while standing in front of a trailer parked on the ruins of his property. “They let my home burn down. I know what the consequences of failed leadership are.”
Never mind that Pratt didn’t actually live in the trailer – TMZ later reported he was living with his wife and two young boys in the luxurious Hotel Bel-Air. His outrage mirrored broader dissatisfaction with Bass, a Democrat who was on a presidential delegation to Ghana when the blaze began and has faced criticism for the slow pace of rebuilding.
Some Angelenos are desperate for change
Dennis Kamrany, a lifelong Pacific Palisades resident who sells real estate and is waiting for his home’s gas lines to be reconnected more than a year after they were damaged in the fire, said Pratt’s political inexperience didn’t matter.
“I’d rather have someone that’s a fighter, that has energy, that’s young, that is talking about common sense policies,” he said.
“What the hell do we have to lose?” he added. “We’re already in the dumps. Give somebody else a shot.”
Steve Hilton, a conservative commentator who became the leading Republican candidate for governor, saw Pratt’s candidacy along with his own as signals that California voters are desperate for a break from the state’s prevailing liberal governance.
“We’ve got a failed and broken system and you’ve got a couple of outsiders who’ve never run for office before,” Hilton said of himself and Pratt. “This is our moment.”
Democrats outnumber registered Republicans in California by nearly 2-to-1 statewide, and Republicans account for under 15% of registered voters in Los Angeles.
With that math working against Pratt, there were simply not enough Los Angeles voters who believed he should be given a chance to oversee a $15 billion budget and 50,000 municipal workers, including roughly 8,600 police officers, in the nation’s second-largest city.
Billionaire businessman Rick Caruso faced a similar challenge in 2022, when he ran against Bass for mayor. The Republican-turned-Democrat spent over $100 million, most of it his own money, on a campaign focused on public safety, and he lost by nearly 10 points.
Deanna Crane, 33, said she wanted “anyone with a pulse other than Spencer Pratt” for mayor.
Although she shared Pratt’s dissatisfaction with how Bass handled last year’s fires, she voted for Raman instead.
Pratt rose through celebrity circles
Pratt is a product of the early aughts youth reality television boom in Los Angeles, where he entrenched himself for the better part of two decades. His breakthrough came when he joined the second season of “The Hills” as Heidi Montag’s boyfriend. The couple – especially Pratt – embraced their onscreen personas as fame-seeking television villains, even publishing a book, “How to Be Famous: Our Guide to Looking the Part, Playing the Press, and Becoming a Tabloid Fixture” in 2009, the year they married.
There was little, it seems, that Pratt wouldn’t do for a headline or in the name of publicity.
He claimed responsibility for spreading rumors about a sex tape featuring “The Hills” star Lauren Conrad, but later denied it. A year and a half after marrying Montag, they filed for divorce; several months later, he said it was faked to boost Montag’s fledgling music career. During their separation, he also was arrested and jailed in Costa Rica for attempting to board a flight with a firearm.
In 2018, he talked about how he blew through a $10 million net worth in pursuit of a lavish lifestyle, replete with $4,000 bottles of wine and $1 million worth of crystals. He also started a company, Pratt Daddy, that sells crystals. The website explains that the crystals helped heal Montag’s post-surgery pain “that even morphine could not relieve.”
After the family’s home was destroyed in the Palisades Fire, they faced backlash for accepting money from fans. Pratt insisted they were not rich even before losing everything. He also turned to TikTok videos as a source of revenue, tried to get a reality show going about their rebuilding process, and started encouraging fans to stream Montag’s music, including her 15-year-old album “Superficial.”
It hit No. 1 on iTunes, thanks to support from the likes of Paris Hilton, Alix Earle and Flavor Flav. He celebrated with a video on Instagram.
“Who needs a house, who needs clothes, who needs anything but this level of clout, pop, superstardom?” Pratt said.
Los Angeles faces steep challenges
The next mayor will likely become an international figure when Los Angeles hosts the Olympics in 2028.
But a falling population in the region speaks to frustration with taxes, traffic and the cost of just about everything.
Although statistics suggest that the city has made headway on homelessness, makeshift encampments and rows of rusting RVs remain commonplace. Dirty, pocked streets and sidewalks abound.
Meanwhile, Hollywood jobs have been decamping for years to more affordable filming locales. The restaurant industry has been ailing.
Los Angeles’ ailments had some voters willing to take a chance on Pratt.
Susie Tho, 38, came to wait outside Pratt’s primary night party hoping to shake his hand.
Tho said she is a Democrat but voted for Pratt. She was born and raised in Los Angeles and said she was voting for a change after feeling like the city has “gone downhill.”
When Pratt first announced his candidacy, she was apprehensive. but she said he won her over with his debate performance, which she called sharp and prepared.
“I just wanted a clean and safe street for my child to grow up in,” Tho said. “I miss the LA that I grew up in.”
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