Reality TV star Spencer Pratt has revealed he is running for Los Angeles mayor as a Republican because he wants to walk around the city with guns.
In an interview on CNN’s The Story Is with Elex Michaelson, the former star of The Hills was pressed on why he is running as a registered Republican to oust Democratic Mayor Karen Bass.
Pratt teased the announcement as “breaking news” before detailing his unexpected reasoning.
“When I was a hated reality star, I got so many death threats, I had so much security and police, and what did they tell me to do? Get a gun,” he said. “I know people don’t like guns, but L.A. was dangerous if you’re hated, so I got a gun, my wife [fellow The Hills star Heidi Montag] got a gun.”
Pratt added that he and his wife also needed permits to carry concealed weapons, also known as CCWs.
“The only people that supported a CCW were the Republicans. That was what I aligned with—my safety, my personal safety, my family’s safety,” Pratt said.
“I know people don’t like guns, but when people are threatening your life and your own security is telling you you need to have home protection, train, go through the proper steps—that was my, that’s it.”
Pratt’s home was destroyed in the massive Palisades fire last year, and a central plank of his bid to become L.A. mayor is his claim that the death and destruction caused by the blaze were due to a lack of action from Bass.
Pratt is also running a Donald Trump-esque campaign, complete with AI-generated campaign ads and accusations of deceit.
In a campaign video released last week, Pratt stood in front of a silver Airstream on his burned-out property, claiming: “This is where I live.”
TMZ reported after the video’s release that Pratt has actually been living at the Hotel Bel-Air, where rooms can cost up to $2,000 a night, while Montag and their two children have been staying in Santa Barbara, a city more than 90 miles away from Los Angeles.
During his CNN interview, Pratt defended his staunchly pro-Second Amendment views, saying he is also vowing to put LAPD officers “in front of every school to make schools safe from guns.”
When asked if there are enough officers to do so, Pratt replied: “All you have to do is pick one patrol unit for, and you give them a nice pin that connects to that school, and that’s their street.”
“Obviously, I know people don’t like guns, and we need to make everything, especially school, safe, but that is where I connect to,” he added. “Once you feel fear and it’s real, you want to protect your family.”
