Spencer Pratt, Ex-reality Star Turned Wildfire Critic, Is Running For Mayor Of Los Angeles

Former reality television personality Spencer Pratt announced Wednesday he is running for mayor of Los Angeles at a protest on the one-year anniversary of wildfires that devastated parts of the region.

Pratt, 42, grew up in Pacific Palisades and he and his wife, fellow ex-reality star Heidi Montag, lost their home in a fire that took 6,000 houses in and around the Palisades community last Jan. 7. Pratt has since attracted a large following in the fire’s aftermath, posting regularly on Instagram and TikTok with fierce criticism of Gov. Gavin Newsom and Mayor Karen Bass for their handling of the blaze.

“Business as usual is a death sentence for Los Angeles,” Pratt said from the stage at the “They Let Us Burn” rally in the Palisades town center. “And I'm done waiting for someone to take real action. That's why I am running for mayor."

Pratt declined to take questions after he spoke at the rally, but showed a POLITICO reporter photos of him signing official campaign paperwork to confirm his run.

A political neophyte, Pratt is a long-shot candidate in a race in which Bass remains the prohibitive favorite to win reelection despite having taken a political hit for her handling of the response to the fires.

After rising to fame as a bad-boy character on the mid-2000s MTV show The Hills, Pratt slipped into relative obscurity. Following the blaze that destroyed the Palisades and the Eaton fire, which on the same day tore through huge swaths of Altadena, a community north of the city's downtown, Pratt inserted himself into the debate over how to rebuild in the wake of the fires. In posts to his 2 million followers on social media, he argued vehemently against calls for denser housing in the fire-stricken areas and railed against Bass and Newsom.

Doug Herman, a campaign strategist for Bass, struck back at Pratt's criticisms and his decision to enter the race.

"It’s no shock that in advance of his imminent book release, a reality TV 'villain' who once staged a fake divorce to boost ratings and spent the last summer spewing post-fire misinformation and disinformation to pump up his social media following, would now announce he’s running for mayor," he said.