A new political oddball is conquering Los Angeles: Spencer Pratt, here in the Bahamas in 2009 with his wife.
image: imago
At 42, former reality TV star Spencer Pratt wants to become mayor of Los Angeles. The self-proclaimed “Messenger of God” is about to qualify for the runoff election.
June 7, 2026, 6:44 p.mJune 7, 2026, 6:45 p.m
It’s a slightly too familiar scenario. A TV personality with an extravagant style whose political ambitions make you smile but are initially taken really seriously. And yet Spencer Pratt, initially seen as just an entertaining outsider, has managed to rise in the polls. His campaign is proving to be a huge success thanks to viral AI videos and impressive donations: He could potentially secure a place as a serious candidate in the Los Angeles mayoral election next November.
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Pratt’s name recognition, communication skills and message have made LA’s mayoral election a national event.
image: www.imago-images.de
The name may (still) be familiar to a few people in this country. But things look different in the USA. Especially for Americans who watched MTV in the 2000s, Pratt is (far too) familiar.
The once blonde youth with round cheeks and a childlike look is considered the first “real” villain in the history of reality TV. A harsh, unbearable guy who likes to gossip and was at times described as the “most hated man in America”. A title he still wears proudly today.
“At the time it was a victory. […] At one point there was hatespencerpratt.com, where you could write (hate) comments. […] I found it entertaining and ridiculous.”
Spencer Pratt in the “Call Her Daddy” podcast, December 2024
Spencer Pratt at his beginnings in “The Princes of Malibu”, 2005.
image: imago
From the very beginning, Spencer Pratt was more interested in show business than politics. He grows up in Southern California surrounded by children of celebrities. Driven early on by the desire for fame In 2005, after university, the young Spencer recognized the potential of the new reality TV genre and throws himself into the shows that would make history, such as “The Simple Life” with Paris Hilton (his “very first famous girlfriend,” as he explains in 2024) and “The Kardashians” (which he also says he is said to have inspired).
After his first Hollywood contract, Spencer Pratt joins the series “The Hills,” which follows a group of young, attractive people in their twenties in search of meaning and love. There he plays Heidi Montag’s grumpy friend – the living cliché of the money-hungry, stupid blonde – who will go down in TV history herself, among other things because she had ten (!) cosmetic surgeries in a single day in 2009.
“Speidi,” as America’s best-known couple was called at the time, is still together 20 years after its TV debut – still eccentric and just as hungry for glamor.
Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag in 2006…image: Patrick McMullan
… In 2025 the couple has hardly changed.
image: imago
The two of them passed their time with, among other things, Spencer’s online shop for healing crystals and Heidi’s failed music career. The Pratts also appeared in other shows such as “Celebrity Big Brother” and had two children.
A drama that triggered the election campaign
In short: there was nothing to suggest that this flamboyant character would one day seek political office. And even less that he could – to everyone’s surprise – actually achieve a good result in the November elections.
“I didn’t want to be mayor. I have to accept this position because the politicians are letting us taxpayers down.”
Spencer Pratt told NBC News, May 28, 2026
In fact, Spencer Pratt had no political ambitions until that night on January 7, 2025, when fires in Los Angeles completely destroyed the affluent Pacific Palisades neighborhood – including his house and that of his parents.
Pratt has been angry ever since. He launches one from the 10-meter Airstream trailer on his property or from a luxury hotel in Bel-Air aggressive guerrilla campaign against city authorities – an “inactive” Democratic establishment that he believes is responsible for the fires of 2025. He also criticizes increasing homelessness, drug abuse and crime in Los Angeles.
The former actor and influencer’s caravan.
image: imago
His campaign style reflects the character he created on TV: loud, provocative, often rude. The similarities are so great that his spokesman has to deny rumors that a show will be produced if Pratt wins.
In viral AI-generated videos On X, TikTok and Instagram, Spencer Pratt portrays himself as Batman who saves a city riddled with drugs and crime. With Headlines and insults He humiliates his opponents – including the incumbent mayor Karen Bass, Democrats, bureaucrats and the “fentanyl zombies”, as he calls drug addicts.
“Vote for Pratt if you’re tired of human poop on the streets.”
A truly effective method in a state that has produced politicians like Ronald Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger. What began as a social media crusade against the administration became a campaign with generous donations from both parties, endorsements from influential Hollywood figures and media attention.
@spencerpratt LA has over 40K drug addicts holding Angelenos hostage. All it takes is one to make moms feel too nervous to let their kids just go be kids and explore the quiet streets of their beautiful neighborhood. ENOUGH. We are done being held hostage in our own homes. Vote PRATT today!
Spencer Pratt’s followers continually produce viral AI videos, which he reposts, reaching an audience of millions.
The former actor and influencer collected between April 19 and May 16 over $2.7 million – almost ten times as much as his rival Karen Bass made in the same period. Professor Marty Kaplan, an expert in entertainment, media and society at the University of Southern California, puts it this way to the BBC:
«The audience is now used to wanting to be entertained. A candidate who tells a story full of excitement and surprises, where you want to know what happens next – that’s what we want.”
A Trump 2.0?
The promise of the candidate who walks through LA in a black Hugo Boss suit and casual Vans: to “recreate the golden age of Los Angeles”. and to make the city “camera ready” again. A slogan that is in no way inferior to Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” (MAGA).
Spencer Pratt has been campaigning against the Democrats across LA for seven months.
Image: Los Angeles Times
Pratt, for his part, partially adopts the president’s ideas, such as to accommodate all homeless drug addicts in a federal center on the outskirts of the city. Similar to Trump’s wall project on the Mexican border, Pratt promises unprecedented speed of implementation, supported by experienced real estate developers and “numerous philanthropic billionaires.”
Donald Trump has already given the unconventional candidate his blessing. “I hope he is successful,” the US President told reporters at the end of May. “I think he probably supports me. I heard he’s a big MAGA supporter.”
However, Pratt quickly brushed off this praise because he wants to maintain his independence in the heavily democratic city. As a registered Republican (he is a big supporter of gun rights), he deftly blurs traditional party lines. On a private election evening last Tuesday, he had clear words for journalists:
“I don’t represent the Democrats, Republicans or independents – I simply represent the citizens of Los Angeles who expect a minimum quality of life. I’ll prove it in five months.”
Spencer Pratt, who likes to compare himself to Barack Obama, angers conservatives with his support of LGBTQI+ rights and Latino communities and, last but not least, his opposition to ICE agents. He shocked progressives almost as much with dehumanizing comments about homeless people and drug addicts, whom he referred to as “monsters.”
Nevertheless, the unpredictable neo-politician has put together one of the most surprising political coalitions in recent Los Angeles history. Jed Weisman, a local real estate agent and staunch Democrat, tells Vanity Fair:
«Spencer is inexperienced, arrogant and, in my opinion, often embarrassing. But if this [die Kandidaten, Anm. d. Red.] My options are, he is the only person whose statements consistently appeal to me.”
Today, Pratt claims in the media that he has “softened himself down” to bolster his credibility as a possible mayor – but at his core he remains as eccentric as ever. Still fascinated by crystals and influenced by the mystical Christianity typical of LA, he describes himself as a follower of a “Jesus in the multiverse”.
Spencer Pratt was already enthusiastic about healing crystals 20 years ago (here in “The Hills”).
image: mtv
He is said to have experienced a divine revelation after his TV debate with Karen Bass three weeks ago:
«Yes, sir, I understand. You want me to be mayor of Los Angeles.”
Spencer Pratt explains his vision to Vanity Fair
Whether his prophecy comes true or not, Pratt’s campaign will go down in history as one of the most unconventional. With his entry into the runoff election virtually guaranteed, he probably won’t be able to calm down until the actual election on November 3rd against the incumbent Democratic mayor. For the fame fanatic, this is at least a small victory.