Could Spencer Pratt Upend California Politics?

I am writing a lot about Spencer Pratt for a reason, and it's not just that he's running an interesting race. 

Win or lose, he has already upended politics in Los Angeles, and if he manages to win outright, he could fundamentally change California politics altogether. 

All she did was speak publicly one time to go from 65% to 16% https://t.co/Kdmitt27T4

— Lee Kuan Yimby 🇺🇸🇺🇦🇸🇬 (@billiceberg) May 11, 2026

Less than a month ago, the betting favorite to be the next Mayor of Los Angeles was Nithya Raman, the City Councilor who decided to challenge Mayor Karen Bass at the last minute. She had endorsed Bass for reelection but was convinced by supporters to challenge her from the left, and everyone assumed the candidate farthest left would win, especially given Bass' horrendous record. 

Following yesterday’s federal raid and Los Angeles mayoral debate, business owners around dystopian MacArthur Park demand an end to the needle exchange program enabling the homeless drug addicts terrorizing the community. https://t.co/V5sve5bwqy pic.twitter.com/9PFumy7siG

— Kevin Dalton (@TheKevinDalton) May 8, 2026

Then came the Los Angeles Mayor's race debate, and the breakout performance of Spencer Pratt, who until then was seen as an entertaining nuisance candidate. 

Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass on the verge of flop sweating during the debate when simply asked why she deserves a second term pic.twitter.com/s1KsFwsUV3

— Kevin Dalton (@TheKevinDalton) May 7, 2026

Bass was her vacuous self, prattling on about how much better Los Angeles has been under her guidance. At least the parts of it still standing. She was basically playing prevent defense, trying to make no gaffes so she could count on her political machine to carry her over the finish line. It was a good strategy because, under the jungle primary system, she was basically guaranteed one of the top two slots in the general election, and indeed she will be on the ballot this fall unless Pratt wins 50% outright next month. 

Imagine this lunatic in charge of your personal safety pic.twitter.com/xd8l8GjWhH

— Peachy Keenan (@KeenanPeachy) May 10, 2026

Raman, though, had a strategy of running to the left of Bass, and found out the hard way that this strategy does not meet the moment in Los Angeles. 

Spencer Pratt invites Nithya Raman during the Los Angeles Mayor debate to go with him under the Harbor Freeway and personally offer a bed to homeless addicts “who will stab you in the neck” because they don’t want treatment they want Super Meth. pic.twitter.com/yCiM7Y3fG7

— Amy Reichert (@amyforsandiego) May 7, 2026

Nobody wants to hear the same ol' shite right now. A vast swath of the city is literally in ruins, the homeless are destroying everywhere they set up camp, there are needles in the street—provided courtesy of the City of Los Angeles, no less—and prostitutes are roaming the streets due to outrageous policies that Democrats keep pushing. 

And I have talked with Democrats who don’t like any of their choices for governor.

— Amy Reichert (@amyforsandiego) May 11, 2026

The Pratt effect is so large that a debate scheduled for tomorrow has been canceled after first Bass, then Raman, decided to bail out. 

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐎𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐒 𝐌𝐀𝐘𝐎𝐑𝐀𝐋 𝐃𝐄𝐁𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐒𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐃𝐔𝐋𝐄𝐃 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐖𝐄𝐃𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐀𝐏𝐒𝐄𝐃 𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐘 𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐂𝐈𝐋𝐖𝐎𝐌𝐀𝐍 𝐍𝐈𝐓𝐇𝐘𝐀 𝐑𝐀𝐌𝐀𝐍 𝐉𝐎𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐃 𝐌𝐀𝐘𝐎𝐑 𝐊𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐍 𝐁𝐀𝐒𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐑… pic.twitter.com/zn5eGFUFoQ

— M.A. Rothman (@MichaelARothman) May 11, 2026

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐎𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐒 𝐌𝐀𝐘𝐎𝐑𝐀𝐋 𝐃𝐄𝐁𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐒𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐃𝐔𝐋𝐄𝐃 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐖𝐄𝐃𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐀𝐏𝐒𝐄𝐃 𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐘 𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐂𝐈𝐋𝐖𝐎𝐌𝐀𝐍 𝐍𝐈𝐓𝐇𝐘𝐀 𝐑𝐀𝐌𝐀𝐍 𝐉𝐎𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐃 𝐌𝐀𝐘𝐎𝐑 𝐊𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐍 𝐁𝐀𝐒𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐑 𝐏𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐓 𝐈𝐍 𝐀𝐁𝐑𝐔𝐏𝐓𝐋𝐘 𝐏𝐔𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐎𝐔𝐓, 𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐕𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐓𝐖𝐎 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐎𝐑 𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐈𝐃𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐒 𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐎 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐔𝐏.

The Pat Brown Institute and the League of Women Voters issued the joint statement:

‘𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘦𝘥.”

The pull-out sequence:

— Bass withdrew first, last week, citing travel to Sacramento for homelessness and Palisades fire recovery funding.

— Pratt followed with a stated scheduling conflict.

— Raman pulled out Monday morning, leaving only businessman Adam Miller and activist Rae Huang on the stage.

The context Bass does not want televised: 𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤’𝐬 𝐍𝐁𝐂 𝐝𝐞𝐛𝐚𝐭𝐞, 𝐏𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐁𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐑𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐧. A second forum on Wednesday would have meant another full-camera evening of Pratt asking Bass why 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝟑𝟎 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝟒,𝟏𝟑𝟓 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐬.

The Raman angle is the most politically damaging. The councilwoman who 𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟎 ‘𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞” 𝐩𝐮𝐬𝐡 openly reversed course on CNN this weekend:

‘𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘸𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱. 𝘗𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦𝘵𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘬 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺.”

Her DSA-aligned base instantly accused her of 𝐫𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 under the pressure of disorder her own movement created. She pulled out of Wednesday’s debate within 48 hours of the backlash.

𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐌𝐀𝐘𝐎𝐑 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐎𝐏 𝐓𝐖𝐎 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐂𝐈𝐋 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐑𝐄𝐅𝐔𝐒𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐀 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐄 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐀 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘-𝐓𝐕 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑, 𝐈𝐓 𝐈𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘-𝐓𝐕 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑 𝐖𝐇𝐎 𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐕𝐈𝐓𝐀𝐒.

Bass and Raman are both scrambling. Raman's chances for winning are essentially gone because she has no political machine to fall back on, while Bass only remains in the running because she has the overwhelming support of the union/NGO complex that can reliably deliver votes for a pet rock. 

The LA County Federation of Labor has a new committee lined up to go after Spencer Pratt, and they are dropping an initial $221k on this video & an additional digital ad. pic.twitter.com/vJnHCDunPb

— Unrig LA (@UnrigLA) May 9, 2026

Of course, the message of that cartel shows how little it is about the voters of Los Angeles. Their ad, which appeals to people pillaging the city and the state, certainly falls flat with the average voter in L.A. Almost nobody, except the people living off the taxpayers as parasites, thinks L.A. is moving in the right direction, and at least the Federation of Labor folks are making clear that they don't give a rip. They want social worker jobs, and that's it. 

🚨 Spencer Pratt, in a private DM:
- called antisemitism a "mind virus"
- accused current leaders of playing "far too cute" with antisemitic tropes
- promises more LAPD presence around Chabad centers
- says DOJ should more aggressively prosecute antisemites pic.twitter.com/7mCy1vrsbw

— James Li (@5149jamesli) May 11, 2026

Of course, despite the fact that Pratt is scaring the bejeezus out of the Democratic Party establishment, Bass has the inside track. She does have the machine behind her, and that machine has been rigging the system for decades. 

So the election comes down to the machine versus the people, much as the 2016 election did. The smart money bet on Hillary!, and lost, barely. Politics has never been the same. 

Could the same thing happen in Los Angeles? Probably not, but you never know. Pratt is a talent, and he has broken through the noise. 

He could win. And if he does, nothing will be the same in California, either. 

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