When Spencer Pratt announced his bid for Los Angeles mayor back in January, plenty of people thought it was a celebrity stunt. Now, with the primary just around the corner on June 2, the former Hills star is getting serious endorsements—and they’re coming from unexpected corners of the political establishment.
Turning Point USA CEO Erika Kirk threw her support behind Pratt on May 21, calling his campaign“authentically American”and praising his willingness to challenge what she calls a“failing system.”Kirk’s endorsement cuts through the noise of traditional politics. She’s not framing Pratt as a joke or a publicity grab; she’s positioning him as a genuine civic participant who saw a problem and decided to do something about it. That problem? The 2025 Palisades Fire, which destroyed Pratt’s own home and sparked his decision to run against Democratic incumbent Mayor Karen Bass.
The campaign has already attracted attention from higher-ups. President Donald Trump weighed in on May 20, telling reporters he’d like to see Pratt succeed.“I heard he’s a big MAGA person. He’s doing well,”Trump said, adding that he assumes Pratt supports him. It’s the kind of endorsement that signals mainstream political players are taking this candidacy seriously, even if they’re not entirely sure what to make of it.
What makes Pratt’s run genuinely distinctive is his refusal to sound like a politician. Instead of polling-tested talking points, he’s speaking from personal experience—about what happens when city leadership fails its residents. He’s been blunt about the stakes too, vowing to leave Los Angeles entirely if he doesn’t win.“If Karen Bass gets reelected or Nithya gets elected, I will be done with trying to live in L.A.,”he told comedian Adam Carolla on May 16. It’s a bold gamble that puts his family’s future on the line, but it also underscores how serious he is about the issues driving his campaign.
The race itself remains competitive. A Newsweek election tracker as of May 22 listed Mayor Bass as a“clear favorite,”but recent polling shows Pratt and L.A. City Councilwoman Nithya Raman have both closed the gap. If no candidate wins a majority in the primary, the top two candidates advance to a general election scheduled for November 3, regardless of party affiliation. That means even if Pratt doesn’t win outright, he could still make it to the final round.
What’s striking here isn’t whether Pratt can actually become mayor—the math still favors Bass. It’s that a reality TV personality is shifting the conversation about what it means to be a viable candidate. He’s proving that outsider credentials, a genuine personal stake in the issues, and a willingness to speak plainly might matter more to voters than a traditional political resume. Whether that’s enough to unseat an incumbent is another question entirely.
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Local Lawton
Local Lawton is a contributor to LocalBeat, covering local news and community stories.
