Former reality star Spencer Pratt closes in on Karen Bass in bid to be next Los Angeles mayor

Published: 21:45, 3 April 2026 | Updated: 21:50, 3 April 2026 Former reality star Spencer Pratt is gaining in the polls after he launched a long-shot campaign to replace Karen Bass as the Mayor of Los Angeles.  Pratt, 42, announced his campaign in January following a slew of public criticism of Bass over her handling of the massive wildfires at the start of 2025.  Pratt's unlikely political career followed years on television, including the hit MTV series, The Hills, where he met his wife Heidi Montag.  However, a recent poll conducted by the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs suggests that Pratt's long-shot campaign may not be a long shot after all.  The poll still has Bass in the lead, with 25 percent of participants saying they plan to vote for her in the June primary. Pratt came in second, with 11 percent of respondents saying they intended to vote for him in June.  Nithya Raman, a city council member and longtime Bass ally, came in a close third, receiving 9 percent of participants' support.  Rae Chen Huang, a pastor and housing advocate, and Adam Miller, a nonprofit executive and entrepreneur, tied for fourth with 3 percent. Nine percent of participants said they planned to vote for a different candidate. Spencer Pratt, pictured above filling out election paperwork, is closing in on Mayor Karen Bass in the Los Angeles mayoral race, according to new polling  Karen Bass, pictured above at a Human Rights Campaign event in March, is still ahead in the polls, but is not leading by a significant margin  City Councilmember Nithya Raman, pictured above speaking in March, is in the top three of recent polls  Although Bass received the most support from the poll, 40 percent of respondents said they were still undecided.  Zev Yaroslavsky, the director of UCLA Luskin and a former elected leader in Los Angeles, emphasized the importance of respondents still being undecided at this point in the campaign.  'It is unusual for 40 percent of likely voters to be unsure of their choice just two months before an LA mayoralty election,' Zev Yaroslavsky said.  'Although Mayor Bass faces the most challenging reelection of an incumbent mayor in decades, it is highly likely that this election will be decided in a November runoff. A lot can change between now and then, so it's a wide-open race.' Pratt is running as an independent. Los Angeles has a unique voting structure where the top two candidates in the primary run against one another in a November runoff.  However, if a candidate receives more than 50 percent of the votes in June, they win the election, and there is no runoff in the fall.  Bass won the election comfortably four years ago, but is facing an uphill battle this time around as her approval rating has plummeted.  Following the disastrous Palisades fire, Bass lost support among her constituents. Over a year later, 56 percent of those polled view her unfavorably, while only 31 percent viewed her favorably.  Your browser does not support iframes. The UCLA Luskin poll surveyed 813 likely primary voters between March 15 and March 29. The poll was conducted by phone and online with a margin of error of 4 percent.  Another recent poll conducted by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies and co-sponsored by The Los Angeles Times produced similar results.  That poll surveyed 840 likely voters between March 9 and March 15. It found that Bass also led with 25 percent, while Raman came in second with 17 percent, and Pratt trailed in third with 14 percent.  Dan Schnur, a politics professor at UC Berkeley and Pepperdine, told The Los Angeles Times that even though Bass was ahead in the polls, the results could be 'borderline catastrophic' for her campaign. 'That she's having this much trouble against this field, against such a little-known field of opponents, bodes very, very poorly for her,' Schnur said.  'The only thing saving her at this point is that the top tier of potential candidates who were considering running against her decided to stay out of this race.'  Pratt and his wife, Heidi Montag, pictured above together in March, lost their home last year in the Palisades fire. Since then, they have been critical of Bass and city leadership  Rae Chen Huang, a pastor and housing advocate (left), and Adam Miller (right), a nonprofit executive and entrepreneur, are trailing in the polls  Bass was on a diplomatic trip to Ghana when the fires ravaged her home city, killing 12 people and destroying neighborhoods.  She was ruthlessly blasted for being away during the city's travesty and has been criticized for how she handled recovery efforts.  Chief among those critics is Pratt himself, who has frequently blamed Bass for the devastating impacts of the wildfires.  He and his wife, fellow reality star Heidi Montag, also lost their home in the fire. Pratt has credited his frustration with Los Angeles officials during the wildfires as part of his motivation to run for office. The Daily Mail has reached out to Bass and Pratt's campaign teams for comment on the recent polling.   No comments have so far been submitted. 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