{"id":229,"date":"2026-06-05T18:39:27","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T18:39:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=229"},"modified":"2026-06-05T18:39:27","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T18:39:27","slug":"like-a-rapper-in-a-country-bar-spencer-pratt-faces-an-uphill-climb-with-l-a-voters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=229","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Like a Rapper in a Country Bar\u2019: Spencer Pratt Faces an Uphill Climb With L.A. Voters"},"content":{"rendered":"
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LOS ANGELES \u2013 As ballots were still being counted Tuesday night, former reality TV star Spencer Pratt brushed off the notion that his party affiliation as a Republican would sink his ambitions to become the next mayor of Los Angeles. He insisted his message would transcend party lines \u2014 even in a sapphire blue city.<\/p>\n

Read more Democrats\u2019 Graham Platner Headache Isn\u2019t Going Away<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThis idea that I don\u2019t represent Democrats and Republicans and independents \u2014 anyone that\u2019s just a Los Angeles citizen that wants basic quality of life, I\u2019ll be able to show that in five months,\u201d Pratt told reporters<\/u><\/span>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m an Angeleno who said \u2018enough is enough\u2019 and I had to step up,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Pratt is still in contention with progressive Los Angeles City Council member Nithya Raman for the second spot in the runoff in the mayoral race.<\/p>\n

But Pratt\u2019s imprimatur as a favorite of the MAGA movement on social media and a figure whom President Donald Trump praised faces serious hurdles if he advances to the runoff with Democratic Mayor Karen Bass.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has a steep hill to overcome and that hill is called math,\u201d said Paul Mitchell, a Sacramento-based political data analyst, noting that Pratt is vying to lead a city where only 15% of the electorate is Republican. \u201cThe reality is that voters in Los Angeles, even if they might be upset with the status quo, are not going to take that next step and vote for somebody who is easily described as kind of a MAGA light Republican.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like he\u2019s the best rapper in a country bar,\u201d Mitchell said.<\/p>\n

While Pratt may try to distance himself from Trump in the general election \u2014 and he has repeatedly argued that the race is not about national politics \u2014 the president told reporters ahead of the primary that he hoped to see Pratt \u201cdo well\u201d and added that he\u2019d heard Pratt is \u201ca big MAGA person.\u201d Trump is so deeply unpopular in Los Angeles that any association with him could taint Pratt\u2019s candidacy, and Bass and her allies appear eager to exploit that opening if he is her opponent in November.<\/p>\n

Bass has highlighted Pratt\u2019s vow to cooperate with the Trump administration\u2019s immigration enforcement raids \u2014 noting her own history pushing back against those operations and arguing that she would be a protector of \u201call Angelenos.\u201dDuring a recent event with Bass, Angelica Salas, the president of L.A.-based Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights Action Fund, cast Pratt as another version of Trump who would endanger the immigrant community in Los Angeles. \u201cWe suffer the consequences when people become confused and enamored with reality TV stars,\u201d Salas said as she stood beside Bass. \u201cWe already have a reality TV star in the White House, and look how bad that has been.\u201d<\/p>\n

California-based Republican strategist Mike Madrid noted that anti-incumbent sentiment in L.A. is as strong as it has been in decades \u2014 providing Pratt with a chance to defeat Bass. But Madrid said the parallels between Pratt\u2019s style and Trump\u2019s have not been helpful to the former star of \u201cThe Hills\u201d as he has campaigned with what Madrid described as \u201cperformative, over-the-top grotesquery.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s created a ceiling for himself,\u201d Madrid said. \u201cSpencer Pratt can say he\u2019s not MAGA all he wants, but if MAGA is saying Spencer Pratt is one of us, that speaks louder than anything else he can say.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump drew more attention to his admiration for Pratt, as well as Pratt\u2019s party affiliation, on Thursday when he claimed without evidence that Democrats are trying \u201cto STEAL THE GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA PRIMARY, AND THE MAYOR OF LOS ANGELES, PRIMARY, AWAY FROM TWO GREAT REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES\u201d \u2014 a reference to Pratt and California gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton, a Republican endorsed by Trump.<\/p>\n

Read more Federal Judge Throws Out Trump Policy that Kept Some Immigrants in Legal Limbo<\/a><\/p>\n

California ballots that are postmarked on or before Election Day are still counted if they arrive up to seven days after the election. Trump has repeatedly invoked the debunked claim that the use of mail-in ballots leads to fraud. And he has gone so far as to argue that Republicans should \u201cnationalize\u201d elections. Pratt\u2019s team did not respond to a request for comment about the president\u2019s assertion.<\/p>\n

But Pratt inevitably will be drawn into the heated debate over the length of time it takes to count mail-in ballots in California. The sheer volume of ballots that must be counted in the most populous state in the country means it can take days, if not weeks, to determine the final result in close elections. The remaining ballots to be counted could skew toward more liberal candidates, because many Democratic voters said they returned their ballots later than usual \u2014 largely because of the crowded governor\u2019s race.<\/p>\n

As of Friday morning, none of the gubernatorial candidates had advanced to the November runoff \u2014 Hilton, the former Fox News host, is leading, with Xavier Becerra, a Biden Cabinet official, close behind and billionaire Democrat Tom Steyer in third place.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s high-water mark in Los Angeles came against Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024, when he garnered about 25% percent of the nearly 1.4 million ballots cast, a mark some political observers are watching to see if Pratt can best. In a survey<\/u><\/span> this spring by the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University, about 62% of voters described themselves as somewhat or very liberal; about 22% said they were moderate and 16% said they were somewhat or very conservative.<\/p>\n

But political strategists note that even if Pratt swept the Republican vote and snagged a significant percentage of the moderate Democrats, he could still fall short of a winning coalition \u2014 as real estate executive Rick Caruso, a Republican-turned-Democrat, did in his mayoral loss to Bass four years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe challenge [for Pratt] in this election is not about who he is, his campaign or his messaging,\u201d said Fernando Guerra, the director of the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University. \u201cIt\u2019s who L.A. is. L.A. is not America in 2024, 2016, or even 2020. It\u2019s not a 50-50 split, where you just need to deflate Democrats or cross over a little bit. We\u2019re talking about an 85-15 split.\u201d<\/p>\n

With an electorate that tends to be more liberal in a general election than in a primary, Bass would stand to benefit.<\/p>\n

California Republican strategist Kevin Spillane noted that Bass\u2019 low approval ratings could also lead her to lean into the \u201ctime-tested\u201d campaign strategy often deployed by troubled incumbents: by tearing down their opponent.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe campaign [Pratt] has conducted \u2014 he\u2019s done the best of the three of them,\u201d Spillane said. \u201cBut he just has political gravity trying to weigh him down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more The D.C. Delegate Race Is Already the Most Expensive on Record<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The math in the deep-blue city works against the Trump-praised Republican vying to secure a spot in the run-off.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":228,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-republicans"],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018Like a Rapper in a Country Bar\u2019: Spencer Pratt Faces an Uphill Climb With L.A. 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