Former reality TV star Spencer Pratt entered the 2026 Los Angeles mayoral race, making his announcement Wednesday at a rally for Pacific Palisades fire survivors.
Mr. Pratt came to fame alongside wife Heidi Montag on MTV’s “The Hills.”
He said on social media that he “waited a whole year for someone to step up and challenge [Mayor] Karen Bass, but I saw no fighters. Guess I’m gonna have to do this myself. Let’s make LA camera-ready again!”
At the “They Let Us Burn” rally, Mr. Pratt explained that he grew up in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood and that the fire destroyed his and Ms. Montag’s house, everything they owned, plus his mother and father’s house.
The rally for the June 2 election took place on the one-year anniversary of the fire’s start.
Mr. Pratt put the onus for the fire on state and local leaders, excoriating Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, for the lack of wildfire maintenance in nearby Topanga State Park and for insurance regulations that led companies to leave the market.
Now, the new candidate said, permit issues and state regulations were preventing neighborhood residents from rebuilding.
He added that the Los Angeles Fire Department did not use enough resources to fight the fire and that the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power left the local reservoirs dry.
Mr. Pratt also directly called out Ms. Bass, who is running for reelection, for overseeing missing aid money intended for survivors and victims.
“I used to think my taxpayer dollars funded a functional city and state government whose essential services would be there when I needed them. But I was completely naive. … NGOs, nonprofits and unions are running this town — why do you think $100 million in fire aid is missing? … This isn’t just a campaign; we are gonna expose the system,” Mr. Pratt said in his speech.
Ms. Bass is a registered Democrat, Mr. Pratt a registered Republican. The California GOP is trying to reach him about his candidacy, party spokesman Matt Shupe told The Associated Press.
Douglas Herman, a campaign strategist for Ms. Bass, told KABC-TV, “It’s no shock that in advance of his imminent book release, a reality TV villain who once staged a fake divorce to boost ratings and spent the last summer spewing post-fire misinformation and disinformation to pump up his social media following, would now announce he’s running for mayor.”
The book Mr. Herman referenced, “The Guy You Loved to Hate,” is being published by Simon & Schuster and is due to be released Jan. 27.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
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