From ‘The Hills’ Villain To Karen Bass’ Nightmare: Inferno Fuels Spencer Pratt’s LA Mayor Bid

LOS ANGELES — From “The Hills” villain to wildfire survivor turned Bass antagonist, Spencer Pratt is taking his fight to City Hall.

Pratt officially kicked off his mayoral campaign Wednesday on the city’s Westside, packing the room with supporters while pitching to voters and the Daily Caller News Foundation why he should unseat the incumbent and rebuild trust after the fires that leveled neighborhoods.

Known for the popular 2000s reality TV show, “The Hills,” Pratt’s was seen by many as the hot head who went on to marry fellow cast member Heidi Montag. However, in January 2025 Pratt and Montag’s home burned down in the disastrous Pacific Palisades fire, and they were displaced alongside thousands of other residents.

As questions emerged about California leadership’s response to the fires, Pratt became a leading critic of Democratic Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom. Breaking stories about firefighters having concerns about a possible Palisades Fire before it broke out, Pratt’s popularity in the community grew outside of his reality TV orbit.

He began posting daily videos questioning the city’s response to the Palisades Fire, seeking help and tips from where he could. Pratt eventually made his way to Washington D.C. in August 2025. Just a month later, Republican Sens. Rick Scott of Florida and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin announced the congressional investigation into the Palisades Fire. Pratt officially announced his run for LA mayor at the Palisade Fire anniversary rally in January.

While Democratic leaders brush off Pratt’s criticism, the former reality star told supporters at the city’s well known Don Antonio’s restaurant that he is coming for Bass’ job on Wednesday evening. Stepping out to applause from supporters and Taylor Swift’s “Look What You Made Me Do,” Pratt gave a brief speech outlining his vision for the city.

“I was hoping someone else would step up and fix this mess, but now you’ve entrusted me to do the job. And I take that responsibility seriously,” Pratt said. I’m going to make sure we do this right. The city doesn’t need another politician — brokering deals and trading favors. We need leadership that shows up, takes responsibility and delivers results.”

“No more cover-ups and corruption. No more self-dealing and incompetence. No more back room deals and special interests. We are done with all of it,” Pratt added as the crowd applauded.

Pratt vowed that if he becomes mayor, the city government will meet its “most basic responsibilities again,” and deliver “real recovery” if another crisis hit the city. The mayoral candidate touched on issues such as corruption, illegal immigration, public safety, waste and fraud.

Cheers filled the room as Pratt wrapped his speech. Quickly flooded by supporters asking for pictures and introductions, the DCNF asked Pratt about his message for Angelenos unfamiliar with his television career and recent advocacy.

“My message to the rest of Los Angeles is I’m born and raised in Los Angeles. The Palisades they burned it down. It’s gone. I’m no longer fighting for the Palisades I’m fighting for LA so that they don’t continue burning down our entire city. Metaphorically and physically,” Pratt said.

Though the Palisades Fire has dominated Pratt’s messaging, the candidate told the DCNF that addressing fraud is his next top focus.

“Fraud in our homelessness. Fraud in our fire department. Fraud in the LAPD. They are scamming all of our tax money across the board in the city. So we’re going to clean that up,” Pratt said. “Week one, I’m bringing in the criminal investigators from the IRS. We’re going to go through all their books.”

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One notable attendee was former Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva. When asked about the importance of Pratt’s run for the city, Villanueva told the DCNF that the outsider candidate could shake up the “political machine” that’s essentially only ever “anointed” candidates.

“Well this is an important run for LA because for decades the mayor of LA, board of supervisors, you name it, they’ve all been basically anointed candidates from the political machine and that has led to the decay and basically degradation of LA City. What Spencer Pratt represents is an honest person prepared for the job who’s going to take a fresh look at everything and actually get the people’s interest ahead of the politicians and machine 🏛️Politics and that is key to success as mayor of LA,” Villanueva said.

Questions have circled regarding if Pratt could actually pull off a win against Bass despite his background not being in the city’s political circle. But Villanueva highlighted that other notable political figures who have also come from the Hollywood space.

“Well one of the greatest presidents in our history is Ronald Reagan. He was a former actor. It didn’t work out too bad for us so I think him in office is exactly what we need at this time,” Villanueva told the DCNF.

During Pratt’s climb into the political sphere, both Newsom and Bass received major backlash for their handling of the massive tragedy throughout Los Angeles County. While Newsom consistently blames President Donald Trump for not approving the state’s request for billions in recovery funding through FEMA and other federal channels, Bass has attempted to tout progress “victories” in the areas when possible.

As of February 2026 there are around 24 candidates running for Los Angeles Mayor. With Bass already having announced her run for reelection, former Los Angeles Unified School District superintendent Austin Beutner, community organizer Rae Huang and longtime city engineer Asaad Alnajjar are among the notable candidates also running for the top seat.

With no recent head-to-head matchup polls for the 2026 race, it is unclear how candidates may fare against Bass. However, in a January private poll obtained by KNX found only 36% of voters approve of Bass’ work in office, with nearly 60% saying Bass hasn’t effectively addressed the homelessness crisis. Notably, 40% of those surveyed said they would be voting for someone else, and only 11% saying they would vote for Bass.

Recalls for Bass have once again begun to circulate on Wednesday after a Los Angeles Times report revealed the Democratic mayoral allegedly directed others to water down the Palisades Fire after action report.

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