Your bag is empty.
When Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass was hit in the face by a flying tomato, she was seated in a ballroom with some of California’s most important political figures: Gov. Gavin Newsom, clad in a floppy lace cravat, ate cake while Vice President Kamala Harris swigged vodka straight from the bottle. But as Angelenos filed into the ballroom one by one and begged for help rebuilding their homes and cleaning their city, Bass dismissed their concerns. Then, Spencer Pratt appeared.
Dressed in a Batman suit, the former villain of reality TV show The Hills led the people of L.A. in a food fight against the state’s top politicians as DJ Marco Rubio (the Republican Secretary of State) queued up some upbeat dance music. Tomatoes flew, and the Democratic leaders fled into the night. “You can do it, Spencer!” Rubio declared from the sidelines.
This AI fever dream of a campaign video was created by filmmaker Charles Curran to promote the election of Pratt as the next mayor of Los Angeles. Videos like Curran’s, and other viral campaign ads created by Pratt, have yanked the unlikely candidate into a three-way fight to advance to the November election.
In California’s top two nonpartisan primary system, the two candidates with the most votes in the June 2 primary will advance to a runoff in November if neither candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote. At first, Pratt seemed like a longshot. But frustration with Bass and a split among the city’s Democratic Socialists have given Pratt a good chance of joining the rare ranks of Republicans to progress to the runoff.
“A lot of Angelenos also feel that he’s a cathartic outlet for them … they’re pissed, and they think Bass should be fired,” said Republican consultant Rob Stutzman, who engineered Republican California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s recall win in 2003, adding that Pratt has “a decent chance to make the runoff.”
Between April 19 and May 16, Pratt raised nearly $3 million – almost 10 times more than Bass or City Councilwoman Nithya Raman, the other frontrunners, in the same period. And recent polling shows Pratt in a tug-of-war for second with Raman, the more popular of two Democratic Socialist candidates.
“The reason why Spencer Pratt has resonated is that his story is true,” said L.A.-based GOP strategist and pollster Matthew Klink, postulating that Pratt probably would not have run if he hadn’t lost his home in the L.A. fires. “I don’t think anybody says that Los Angeles managed the fire or the aftermath of the fire well. That all points back to one person, Karen Bass.”
Bass has been consistently polling around 25 to 30 percent in primary matchups – in the lead, but not by much. “It’s unusual for a sitting incumbent mayor to poll so low,” said L.A.-based Democratic strategist Samantha Stevens, who is not working with any mayoral candidates but is advising a number of campaigns this year in the greater L.A. area and says voters are questioning “whether or not [Bass is] managing the city well.”
Bass was lambasted for being out of the country during the L.A. fires last year, and for the slow recovery that ensued. Locals are also frustrated with what many feel is a lethargic plan to bring down rates of homelessness and crime. These form the foundation of Pratt’s campaign.
“These people have failed us. They’ve spent all of our tax money to increase problems,” Pratt told Fox & Friends a few days before the primary. “I never wanted to be the mayor. I just wanted somebody to tell the truth.”
Multiple attempts to reach Pratt for this story were not returned.
Bass campaign spokesperson Alex Stack told Playboy that homelessness and crime have declined over the last two years. “Nothing ever happens fast enough for anybody, and [Bass] understands that,” Stack said, adding that “It’s hard to turn around a gigantic cargo ship that’s going in one direction.” Bass’ internal polling, Stack also shared, most recently put her at 38 percent compared to Raman’s 24 percent and Pratt’s 22.
The notion that Bass isn’t doing enough opens the door for challengers like Pratt, whose platform is centered around public safety, homelessness and improving the city’s response to crises like last year’s wildfires. But knowing the city’s issues doesn’t equate to being able to fix them. Even Republican strategists say Pratt is far better at identifying problems than proposing solutions. His current platform could be enough to advance Pratt in the runoff, but it’s not clear that it’s enough to put him in office. Whether he can turn success this Tuesday into a November win is far less plausible.
“The number one thing that hurts him is that he’s a registered Republican,” explains Fernando Guerra, a professor of political science at Loyola Marymount University. LA is a deeply blue city; its residents haven’t elected a Republican mayor since Richard Riordan left office in 2001. Pratt told CNN earlier this month that death threats he and his wife received during the height of The Hills’ popularity drove him to the GOP because they would support his need for a concealed carry weapons permit.
Only about 15 percent of Angelenos are registered Republicans, and Pratt lacks the executive experience, clear policy plan, or strong political relationships that could convince independents and moderates, according to Guerra. Pratt needs to convince voters on the city’s east and south sides, who Guerra said typically decide a mayoral race. The Republican strategists who spoke to Playboy say that frustration and celebrity alone will not make Pratt mayor.
“Karen Bass would have to run a horrible campaign and he, Spencer Pratt, would have to run a near perfect campaign,” said Klink.
Pratt has faced his own pitfalls, including criticism over staying in an expensive hotel rather than the airstream trailer featured in his inaugural campaign ad, and past 9/11 conspiracy comments he had to walk back.
Also, President Donald Trump likes Pratt, which could work against him. Trump recently said he wants Pratt to do well and heard The Hills star was a “big MAGA person.” Republicans like Klink say Trump’s support “just gives ammunition to everybody running against Spencer Pratt.”
The rebuttal from Pratt’s supporters, of course, comes in the form of AI.
Two recent AI-generated videos created by supporters and shared widely on social media showed frustrated barbecuing dads and pilates moms tiptoeing around the topic before finally admitting to each other they’re voting for Spencer Pratt. “I’m not MAGA or anything, but have you been downtown lately? Looks like an episode of The Walking Dead,” one dad says. Another chimes in: “Spencer Pratt seems like he has some good ideas,” before echoing the key phrase, “not that I’m MAGA or anything.”
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