A reality TV villain has sudden momentum in his quest to become the mayor of Los Angeles.
After a surprisingly strong debate performance earlier this week, L.A. politicos are wondering if Spencer Pratt, 42, could seriously win it all.
During the debate against his opponents, incumbent Mayor Karen Bass and councilwoman Nithya Raman, Pratt went hard against homelessness policy and what he views as the decline of filmmaking in L.A.
For the first time in the race, Heidi Montag’s husband has been catapulted above Raman in the prediction market on Kalshi.
“I actually thought that [Pratt] had a strong performance,” Mike Bonin, executive director of the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs, told TheWrap.
“I’m sure the debate organizers were worried, going in, about how the reality TV star bad boy would behave. Would he keep interrupting? But he came across as serious and passionate and funny at times,” he continued.
Montag and Pratt appeared together on the latest season of The Masked Singer.
Pratt had long been viewed as the outsider in the race to run America’s second-largest city.
The Hills star had also been accused of being intentionally dramatic on his reality show, but he now says that voters will be able to tell the difference between TV drama and his apparent political authenticity.
“People know when I was a reality villain, I was doing it to get paid. It was strategic. I was working with producers,” he told CBS News. “I’m being very strategic to win and save L.A., but there’s no strategy when you’re standing in an Airstream on your burned out town. You can’t fake that.”
Many clips of the debate went viral online, especially as MAGA figures like fired Kennedy Center head Richard Grenell, a California native, and Trump’s former friend-turned-foe Elon Musk amplified the clips.
L.A. has not seen a Republican mayor since 2001, but Pratt is hoping that voters who are fed up with California’s homeless problems, and those who were impacted by the fires that devastated Los Angeles in 2025, are willing to hear him out.
“I may not have the experience,” Pratt told CBS News. “But I have the common sense to say this is not working.”
But political strategists have cautioned that momentum online does not necessarily translate into voters turning up at the polls, especially in a Democratic-leaning city with historic low voter turnout.
“As far as voting behavior, I don’t believe that social media reaction accurately reflects the realities of a political campaign in the second largest city in America,” Steve Caplan, a political advertising expert who teaches at USC, told TheWrap.
“The attention economy is meaningful, and it means that you’ll get more news coverage and maybe raise some money,” Caplan said.
“But on the election side, given the demographics of L.A., it’s an overwhelmingly Democratic area … You have areas that may be supporting him on social media that don’t even have the ability to vote. I think the jury’s out whether it’s enough to make a meaningful difference," he added.
For some debate watchers, his style has reminded them of Donald Trump’s tone and demeanor, especially as MAGA has seemingly embraced Pratt’s candidacy.
“The greatest similarity is the anger, the insults, and the name-calling,” Bonin said. “I’m not sure that what appeals to people is the name-calling so much as it is that he’s giving voice to frustration because people are pissed.”
