Spencer Pratt says he doesn't want Donald Trump's help, even as the president appears ready to offer it. The reality TV star and Los Angeles mayoral candidate told NBC News on Thursday that his campaign operates on a different plane entirely from national politics, and that voter concerns about everyday city problems matter far more than celebrity endorsements from Washington.
"I don't need anyone's endorsement but mothers'. That's who's getting me elected," Pratt said in an interview with "NBC Nightly News" anchor Tom Llamas. He framed the conversation itself as part of the problem with local elections. "This right here, what you're doing, you having this conversation is what's destroyed local elections. People don't care. In L.A., they want to feel safe, they don't want to step in human poop."
Trump weighed in on Pratt last week, telling reporters, "I'd like to see him do well. He's a character." The president added that he assumed Pratt supported him and called him "a big MAGA person." But Pratt has maintained strict silence on national politics throughout his campaign, insisting his race is fundamentally local and that Los Angeles voters care about infrastructure, safety, and homelessness, not partisan cheerleading.
The 42-year-old entered the political arena after losing his home in last year's Pacific Palisades wildfires. He spent months online attacking Mayor Karen Bass and Governor Gavin Newsom for what he characterized as mismanagement of the disaster. Pratt said the idea of actually running for mayor came only after his viral activism had taken him as far as he could go without holding office. "When I got to the farthest distance I could, where I proved they were obstructing justice, altering after-action reports after the fire, and there was nothing more they could do, that's when I organically got in the race," he said.
The primary election is set for June 2, with all candidates appearing on a single ballot across party lines. A University of California, Berkeley and Los Angeles Times poll released Thursday showed the race tightening dramatically. Mayor Bass leads with 26% support from likely voters, followed by Councilwoman Nithya Raman at 25% and Pratt at 22%, all three within the margin of error. If no candidate wins a majority on Tuesday, the top two advance to a November runoff.
Pratt's policy agenda centers on practical solutions. He wants to increase water reserves for firefighting capacity and boost firefighter hiring and retention. On homelessness, he proposes using private funding from billionaire philanthropists to build a treatment campus on federal lands, arguing that prefabricated homes with integrated medical and treatment facilities cost less than current approaches. He claims to have already met with wealthy investors interested in the project.
"I went to Washington with all the people that build the prefabricated homes. It's actually cheaper to build an entire city of prefabricated homes with treatment facilities and medical centers than just launder money into buildings in L.A.," Pratt said. He suggested such an initiative could theoretically involve federal partnership, though he has not discussed it with Trump.
On housing affordability, Pratt's strategy is bureaucratic streamlining. He pledged to slash red tape to accelerate construction timelines. "The buildings in Los Angeles, it takes years to build any affordable housing. I'm actually going to make sure that we build faster than any other city, and if the building people aren't up to the speed, we're going to find new people," he said.
Pratt dismissed concerns about his unconventional background. Known for his role on MTV's "The Hills" in the 2000s, he acknowledged his past reputation as a tabloid fixture but argued it's irrelevant to his mayoral fitness. "They don't need to worry about what I was before my house burned down and before I got in the race. I don't need to convince anybody about my past, I'm living in the present," he said. He described himself as the "look-around candidate," urging voters to simply observe the visible problems surrounding them and choose change over continuity.
He expressed contempt for career politicians generally. "I don't admire any politicians. I don't like politicians. I didn't want to be a politician. I didn't want to be a mayor. I'm forced into this because politicians are failing us as taxpayers," Pratt said. The campaign has taken a personal toll, he added, with his family facing security concerns and death threats.
Author Sarah Mitchell: "Pratt's calculated distance from Trump, even when the president offers a hand, signals a shift in Republican insurgency strategy, especially in blue cities where the national brand might actually hurt more than help."
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