“I represent all of Los Angeles. I do not represent a party,” the 'Hills' alum insisted in a recent interview as he looks to secure a majority vote in the nonpartisan mayoral primary
Credit: Roy Rochlin/Getty; Melina Mara/Pool/Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- Spencer Pratt, the former reality TV star now running for mayor of Los Angeles, has likened his foray into politics to that of former President Barack Obama
- A registered Republican, Pratt is running an independent campaign in L.A.’s nonpartisan mayoral race
- Pratt has rejected the label of “MAGA Republican” given to him by one of his Democratic opponents, saying he is not backed by any political party
Spencer Pratt, the former reality television star turned Los Angeles mayoral hopeful, has more than once likened his foray into politics to that of former President Barack Obama, a local organizer and former senator from Illinois, with a few key differences.
“I have two awards from my community, President Obama actually didn’t even have awards when he was a community organizer,” Pratt, 42, told NBC Los Angeles’ Conan Nolan in a televised interview on Friday, May 8. “He was able to become a senator and then a president for eight years. So, I feel like him and I have the same experience.”
Pratt, a registered Republican, first compared his own political rise to that of the former Democratic president’s during an interview with CBS News on Thursday, May 7. “He had no experience running the whole entire country, which is way bigger than L.A.,” Pratt said of Obama.
The Hills alum has sought to distance himself from his on-screen past, branding himself as a “community advocate” — his listed occupation on the June 2 ballot. “I’m no longer a reality star,” he said Friday. “It’s funny, I keep being called a reality star. I’m the only candidate living in reality, too.”
The top three candidates for L.A. mayor — Pratt, incumbent Mayor Karen Bass and City Councilwoman Nithya Raman — have each taken personal swipes at one another as the city’s high-stakes nonpartisan primary draws to a close.
On the debate stage on Wednesday, May 6, Raman called Pratt a “MAGA Republican,” a label he rejects.
“I represent all of Los Angeles. I do not represent a party,” Pratt said on Friday. “I don’t have a campaign manager. I don’t have campaign consultants. There’s no political party backing me.”
He said on Thursday, “All my supporters in Los Angeles are Democrats. Everyone I know, my family, are all Democrats.”
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Pratt told CBS News he’s confident he will secure more than half the vote in next month’s election.
“I’m probably going to win with 51 percent on June 2, because I don’t do a political message,” he said. “I don’t do national politics. I don’t do tribal politics. I don’t talk about other states. I’m localized. I just want to fix our streets, get the lights on. I want people to feel safe.”
While uncommon, Los Angeles city and county election laws allow a political candidate to win an office outright if they receive more than half of the vote in the primary. If they don’t, the top two vote-getters advance to the general election in November.
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