May 14, 2026
Spencer Pratt spent the late 2000s being told, on camera, that he was the worst person in America. The heel of MTV's “The Hills” amassed about $10 million from those scripted reality-show feuds — but then, in spectacular fashion, blew nearly all of it (1) on $4,000 bottles of wine, $30,000 shopping sprees and a crystal collection eventually valued at roughly $1 million.
Eighteen years and one historic wildfire later, the same Spencer Pratt is polling second in the primary race for mayor of Los Angeles at 22%, eight points behind incumbent Karen Bass and just ahead of City Councilmember Nithya Raman, according to a May 14 Emerson College/Inside California Politics survey (2).
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Pratt, a registered Republican (3), has more than doubled his support since March. Undecided voters have collapsed from 51% to 16%. And the prediction market Kalshi now gives him 26% odds of winning the mayoralty (4)(5), as of the morning of May 14, up from 8% in late February.
From scorched earth to second place
Pratt, like countless others, was affected by the LA wildfires in January 2025. The Pacific Palisades home he shared with his wife, Heidi Montag (who also appeared on “The Hills”), and their two children burned to the ground (6) on Jan. 7, one of more than 5,800 structures (7) consumed by the blaze. The Palisades and Eaton wildfires were (8) the costliest insured catastrophe in California history (9), with industry loss estimates ranging from $25 billion (10) to $45 billion (11).
That fire, and the city's response, has served as the foundation for Pratt's mayoral campaign. He announced his run (12) on Jan. 7, 2026 — one year to the day after his home burned down — and has spent the months since then hammering Karen Bass over what he calls a botched emergency response.
"I may not have the experience, but I have the common sense to say this is not working," Pratt told CBS News (13) on May 8.
At the time of the wildfires, the mayor was traveling in Ghana (14) and the Los Angeles Fire Department's budget was tight, cut by roughly $17.6 million (15) in 2024. Bass's office is reported to have asked for edits to an after-action report (16)(17) to soften criticism of the city's preparation.
In the May 6 mayoral debate (18) at the Skirball Cultural Center, Pratt called Bass "an incredible liar" over her account of wildfire wind speeds; commentators credited him with a stronger-than-expected showing.
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Emerson's post-debate sample found him pulling 61% of Republican voters and roughly half of independents (19). Notably, the city has not elected a Republican mayor since Richard Riordan (20), who won the race in 1993 and was reelected in 1997.
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From ‘Hills’ to hedge fund
One of the many notable details about Pratt's rise is who is footing the bill for his campaign. In a DealBook column (4), Andrew Ross Sorkin and several New York Times reporters said Pratt is drawing "millions of dollars from business leaders," including Dan Loeb, the activist hedge fund billionaire; Bobby Kotick, the former CEO of Activision Blizzard; Jeffrey Sprecher, the founder and CEO of the company that owns the New York Stock Exchange (21); Universal Music CEO Lucian Grainge and his son, Atlantic Records chief Elliot Grainge; Ring founder Jamie Siminoff; Zynga founder Mark Pincus; Tinder founder Sean Rad; crypto entrepreneurs Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, and many more.
DealBook also reported that Nicole Avant, the Democratic fundraiser and wife of Netflix co-chief Ted Sarandos, plans to back Pratt.
Lakers governor Jeanie Buss, whose family is selling a majority stake to Dodgers owner Mark Walter for $10 billion (22), gave the maximum $1,800 individual contribution (23) and confirmed she has known Pratt since he was a kid — his father is her dentist (24).
Pratt's own campaign reportedly raised $538,478 between January and April 18 (25), edging Bass's $494,000 over the same window, though Bass has more cash on hand and remains the favorite. If no candidate clears 50% on June 2, the top two finishers proceed to a November runoff. But no matter how the election turns out, the man once described in the press as "everything that's wrong with America" (26) is, for now, the second-most-supported candidate to run the country's second-largest city.
Article Sources
We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our ethics and guidelines.
CNBC (1); Emerson College Polling (2); The New York Times (3),(4),(20); Kalshi (5); People (6); Reinsurance News (7); AXA XL (8); San Francisco Chronicle (9); Moody's (10); UCLA Anderson School of Management (11); Mayor Pratt (12); CBS News (13); ABC7 (14),(15); Washington Examiner (16); Los Angeles Times (17); The Hill (18); Yahoo News (19); Intercontinental Exchange (21); ESPN (22); Fox LA (23); Facebook (24); The Real Deal (25); NBC Washington (26)
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Dave Smith is the VP of Content at Wise Publishing and Editor-in-Chief at Moneywise and Money.ca. His work has also been published in Fortune, Business Insider, Newsweek, ABC News, and USA Today.
