Spencer Pratt is looking to trade the drama of reality TV for the drama of City Hall. The former star of The Hills, who lost his Pacific Palisades home in California's deadly Palisades Fire last year, announced Wednesday that he's running for mayor of Los Angeles, the LA Times reports. He made it official at a "They Let Us Burn" rally on the fire's one-year anniversary, telling a cheering crowd that he plans to "expose the system" and probe "every dark corner of LA politics." It's Pratt's first campaign for public office. He and Hills costar-turned-wife Heidi Montag have also appeared on I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here, and Britain's Celebrity Big Brother, NBC Los Angeles reports.
His entry adds another high-profile critic of current Mayor Karen Bass, who KTLA reports is running for re-election, to an already turbulent race shaped by the fire, which killed 12 people and destroyed more than 6,800 homes. Former LA schools chief Austin Beutner and community organizer Rae Huang are also challenging Bass and have criticized her over the city's fire response. LA County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath says she's weighing a run as well and has faulted city officials for refusing to participate in the county's after-action review. The LAFD's own report has come under fire after records showed it was repeatedly softened to minimize leadership failures, a fact Fire Chief Jaime Moore has now publicly acknowledged.
The blaze has become a central political liability for Bass, who was abroad when it broke out and has since faced scrutiny over an empty reservoir, questions about fire pre-deployment, and the handling of a New Year's Day blaze that days later reignited into the Palisades inferno. Her team is emphasizing recovery efforts, pointing to expedited building permits and hundreds of homes under construction. On the anniversary, Bass attended a private vigil and a City Hall ceremony, saying she is using all of her mayoral powers to help families return.
Bass' campaign dismissed Pratt's move, tying it to his upcoming memoir, The Guy You Loved to Hate, and labeling him a reality TV "villain" pushing "misinformation and disinformation" to build his brand. Pratt—who has sued the city over the reservoir, criticized Gov. Gavin Newsom over the fire, and worked with some Republicans on fire-related issues while rejecting a formal party label—has cast himself as a truth-teller about government failures. Whether he's a long shot or a spoiler, one political analyst says his candidacy could keep the fire—which the analyst described as Bass' "greatest failure as mayor"—firmly at the center of the race.
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