I confess I haven't had much hope that Spencer Pratt could actually win his race for mayor of Los Angeles. Why? Because he seems sane and that's not what brings voters to the polls in California.
And yet, it has to be said that he's putting on a hell of a fight and maybe even closing the gap in the final week. There was an LA Times poll out yesterday that showed a three way race within the margin of error.
The latest UC Berkeley-L.A. Times poll of likely voters has the three candidates at the top almost within the margin of error so anything could happen leading up to Election Day. The top two candidates will move on in the race.
In the poll, Mayor Bass is at 26%. Right behind her is Nithya Raman at 25%. Then Spencer Pratt at 22%.
The margin of error for this poll is 3% so this race is wide open with a clear top three.
Being close is good but today the California Post is reporting on a new poll they commissioned which has Pratt in the lead.
A bombshell California Post poll conducted with McLaughlin & Associates shows the reality TV star-turned-mayoral candidate has surged to a statistical tie with the incumbent mayor...
Pratt now leads the field with 30.1% support, compared with 29.5% for Bass, setting up a razor-thin race heading into next week’s primary.
Socialist councilwoman Nithya Raman sits in third place at 23.4%...
“I think the mayor’s race is a lot more volatile,” McLaughlin told The California Post. “Normally it’s a slam dunk for the Democrats, but it’s being driven by the negatives on Bass.”
The poll found 62% of likely voters believe the city is on the wrong track.
Voters may indeed be dissatisfied with Bass, and they should be. She not only failed during the worst disaster the city has seen in years, she also (I believe) helped cover up her own failure in way that seems worthy of an outside investigation.
But as bad as she is, bad news doesn't adhere to Democrats in California the way it might in other places. So I think Pratt (or the people supporting him) deserve some credit for capitalizing brilliantly on public dissatisfaction with a series of pretty terrific ads. This latest one (again, I'm not sure who made it) may be the best one yet.
Sick of it? Vote Spencer Pratt? pic.twitter.com/3J8Mgjaeg1
— Gene Parmesan (@dsonoiki) May 29, 2026
Patient: Why was Karen Bass in Ghana while the city was burning?
Doctor: Six doses. Six doses of the LA Times.
I love that.
But it's not just his ads. He seems like the only candidate who has any chance of changing things in LA. The other two leading candidates will be either more of the same (Bass) or something worse (Raman). Pratt on the other hand will take a different approach.
“Los Angeles doesn't have a homeless problem. We have a drug problem,” Pratt said in his video on X. “The DEA [Drug Enforcement Administration] will tell you that over 90% of the homeless population in LA are hardcore illicit drug users.”
Pratt’s multi-step plan involves a treatment-first model, one that the Republican candidate argues is better than simply offering shelter beds. Under his plan, Pratt said city-funded assistance and long-term housing would require mandatory participation in drug treatment and mental health stabilization services.
Meanwhile, Pratt proposes that Los Angeles cut off funding to what he describes as an “evil racket of corrupt politicians and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) who profit off the misery” of addicts.
Will it work? I don't know. But I do know that the claimed 8% drop in street homelessness Bass is running on isn't very significant. That still leaves about 43,000+ homeless people on the street. I'd like to see a more aggressive approach to solving this problem, one that no one on the left will try.
Could Pratt actually pull this off? Since I'm not in LA I don't get a vote in the matter, but I'll say this much. He's won me over. I'm hoping he peaks at the perfect time and puts Karen Bass out of office for good. LA deserves better even if a full third of them don't seem to know it.
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