Reality TV star Spencer Pratt is making a final push in Sherman Oaks and across Los Angeles ahead of Tuesday's mayoral primary, where polls show him at 22% in a tight three-way race against Mayor Karen Bass and Councilmember Nithya Raman.
Former reality television star Spencer Pratt is making his final pitch to Los Angeles voters this weekend, and Sherman Oaks is one of his stops. The "Hills" co-star turned mayoral candidate held a community meet and greet in a residential Sherman Oaks neighborhood on Saturday, May 16, drawing scores of residents frustrated with the direction of the city.
The nonpartisan primary election is Tuesday, June 2, and recent polls show Pratt competitive in what has become a surprisingly tight three-way race.
A recent survey co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times placed incumbent Mayor Karen Bass at 26%, City Councilmember Nithya Raman at 25%, and Pratt at 22%. The margin of error is roughly 3%, and about 10% of voters remain undecided.
No candidate is expected to clear the 50% threshold needed to win outright. The top two finishers will advance to a November runoff election.
"I've been here for 20 years and this place has just deteriorated," said Janet Sams, a Sherman Oaks resident, at Pratt's Valley campaign event. "The crime, the homelessness, the inept political people that are in office, and just the feeling of being lied to."
Pratt has built his campaign around grievances over housing costs, wildfire recovery, and homelessness. His message resonates with voters who lost homes in the Palisades and Eaton fires last year, which destroyed more than 16,000 structures across Los Angeles.
Pratt himself lost his Pacific Palisades home in the fires. He announced his mayoral bid on the one-year anniversary of the blaze, joining a protest he called "They Let Us Burn!"
Pratt's platform focuses on three core issues that affect Valley residents.
Crime and public safety. Pratt has called for expanding the LAPD to 12,500 officers. He has vowed to enforce existing laws rather than create new ones.
Homelessness and drug addiction. Pratt argues the city faces a drug problem, not a housing problem. He has called for mandatory treatment for people using drugs on the streets.
"Mayor Bass and Councilwoman Raman, they think empty beds, they think it's a housing problem. It's a drug addiction problem," Pratt said on CNN's "The Lead" on Thursday. "Of course, we need to house and find shelter and rehabs for these people, but we need to have mandatory treatment for people that are on drugs."
Experts dispute that framing. Benjamin Henwood, director of the Center for Homelessness, Housing and Health Equity Research at the University of Southern California, said the data does not support Pratt's claims.
"How much is it driving homelessness? The answer is that it's not," Henwood said. "It's housing affordability."
The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority reported more than 43,000 people experienced homelessness on any given night in the city in 2025. That figure is roughly 23% higher than pre-pandemic levels in 2019.
Wildfire recovery. Pratt has tied the slow rebuilding process to broader government incompetence. Only a small fraction of destroyed homes have been rebuilt so far, according to Los Angeles County's official tracker.
"It's been a very long and frustrating process trying to get back home, trying to get insurance companies to pay what they owe. Every single thing is a struggle," said Kaye Steinsapir, a community organizer in Pacific Palisades whose home was partially destroyed.
Pratt has outpaced his rivals in fundraising, drawing donations from high-profile figures in Hollywood and business. Public campaign records show contributions from:
Pratt is a registered Republican, but he has downplayed his party affiliation in a city where 55% of registered voters are Democrats and fewer than 15% are Republicans. Los Angeles has not elected a Republican mayor since 1997, when Richard Riordan won a second term.
President Donald Trump endorsed Pratt in May, calling him a "big MAGA person." Pratt has brushed aside the endorsement, saying national politics has no place in local elections.
Mayor Bass has not hesitated to attack Pratt. During an Instagram livestream on Saturday, she drew comparisons between Pratt and Trump.
"You have a failed reality TV star who wants to be famous," Bass said. "We know what it means if you put somebody who is a reality TV star in a seat of power."
Bass is backed by high-profile Democrats including former Vice President Kamala Harris and California Governor Gavin Newsom. She spent the weekend rallying labor union workers and eating tacos at community events in Eagle Rock and Venice.
Raman has positioned herself as the policy-driven alternative. Her campaign website dedicates roughly 1,400 words to housing affordability plans, and she has released detailed policy proposals on small businesses and other issues.
"It is absolutely essential to making sure that our little campaign, without all the political machine behind us, without MAGA millions behind us, that our vision of Los Angeles still manages to get out to the people," Raman told a phone bank group at UCLA on Sunday.
The San Fernando Valley is a swing region in a Democratic city. Sherman Oaks and its neighboring communities have leaned conservative in recent elections, and Valley voters have historically been more skeptical of Mayor Bass's approach to homelessness and crime.
Pratt's campaign has invested heavily in the Valley. He hosted a barbecue-style block party in Baldwin Village on Saturday, and his earlier Sherman Oaks meet and greet drew enough supporters to fill a residential street.
The average home price in Los Angeles is now over $960,000, up from $611,000 at the start of 2018, according to Zillow data. Housing affordability is a central issue for Sherman Oaks families watching property taxes and rents climb.
Whether Pratt advances to November remains uncertain. But his presence in the race has already reshaped the conversation in Los Angeles politics, turning a typically sleepy local election into a national story.
Sherman Oaks voters will cast their ballots on Tuesday.
This article was generated with AI assistance.