{"id":500347,"date":"2026-01-08T02:48:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T02:48:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/500347\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T02:48:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T02:48:12","slug":"spencer-pratt-announces-run-for-l-a-mayor-on-anniversary-of-palisades-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/500347\/","title":{"rendered":"Spencer Pratt announces run for L.A. mayor on anniversary of Palisades fire"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Spencer Pratt, a reality television star and social media influencer who lost his home in the Palisades fire, announced Wednesday that he will run for mayor of Los Angeles. <\/p>\n<p>The former star of \u201cThe Hills\u201d has spent much of the last year firing off social media posts blaming Mayor Karen Bass and Gov. Gavin Newsom for the Palisades fire, which killed 12 people and burned more than 6,800 homes.<\/p>\n<p>           <video playsinline=\"playsinline\" loop=\"\" preload=\"none\" title=\"Spencer Pratt, frustrated by fire response, announces run for L.A. mayor\" data-video-id=\"0000019b-9a1c-dcbf-a1db-fe5ce7880000\">               <\/video>               <img class=\"image\" alt=\"\"   width=\"473\" height=\"840\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1767840492_838_.jpeg\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>             <\/p>\n<ul data-element=\"action-bar-menu\" class=\"flex gap-2 list-none  absolute w-full h-10 top-0\">\n<li data-element=\"action-bar-share\" class=\"flex  w-full h-10 top-0 lg:items-center lg:justify-center \">\n<p> Share via     Close extra sharing options  <\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Pratt, who has never run for office before, made his announcement at the \u201cThey Let Us Burn\u201d rally in Pacific Palisades on the one-year anniversary of the fire.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re going to expose the system. We\u2019re going into every dark corner of L.A. politics and disinfecting the city with our light,\u201d he said to a crowd of hundreds, many of whom cheered. <\/p>\n<p>Former L.A. schools Supt. Austin Beutner, who is running against Bass, has also attacked the mayor\u2019s performance on the fire, saying she has not accepted responsibility for the city\u2019s failures. <\/p>\n<p>Community organizer Rae Huang, who is challenging Bass from the left, has offered her own critique, saying the mayor has engaged in too much finger-pointing.<\/p>\n<p>Still unclear is whether real estate developer Rick Caruso \u2014 another outspoken critic of Bass on the fire \u2014 will launch a second mayoral bid. Bass defeated him in 2022 by a comfortable margin.<\/p>\n<p>L.A. County Supervisor <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2025-10-16\/lindsey-horvath-mayor-karen-bass\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Lindsey Horvath<\/a>, who represents the areas that burned in the Palisades fire, said she is still considering her own run for L.A. mayor.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking with CNN\u2019s Elex Michaelson on Tuesday, Horvath said she is \u201clistening to a lot of the people who are encouraging me to get into this race, people who are looking for a different kind of leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Horvath criticized the city over its handling of the Los Angeles Fire Department\u2019s after-action report, which was supposed to lay out what went wrong in fighting the Palisades fire and how to prevent the mistakes from being repeated. The Times reported last month that the report was <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2025-12-20\/lafd-report-on-palisades-fire-was-watered-down-in-editing-process-records-show\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">edited<\/a> over multiple drafts to downplay the department\u2019s <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2025-12-17\/after-palisades-failures-is-lafd-prepared-for-next-major-wildfire\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">failures<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>On Tuesday, Fire Chief Jaime Moore <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2026-01-06\/lafd-chief-admits-palisades-fire-report-was-watered-down-says-it-wont-happen-again\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">acknowledged<\/a> that the report had been watered down to soften criticism of the LAFD\u2019s leadership. He promised that \u201cnothing of this sort will ever again happen while I am fire chief.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Horvath said the county invited L.A. officials to participate in its own after-action report, only to be rebuffed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey declined participating and now we know why \u2014 because they wanted to cover up and tell their own story however they wanted to tell it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>The Palisades fire has become a serious political liability for Bass as the mayoral race gains momentum ahead of the June primary. She was <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2025-01-14\/mayor-karen-bass-was-at-embassy-cocktail-party-as-palisades-fire-exploded\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">out of the country<\/a> on a diplomatic mission to Ghana when the fire ignited.<\/p>\n<p>Since then, she has faced criticism over issues surrounding the city\u2019s emergency response, including the fact that the Santa Ynez reservoir was empty and failures by LAFD leaders to fully pre-deploy in the Palisades on Jan. 7 and to put out a New Year\u2019s Day fire that eventually rekindled into the Palisades fire.<\/p>\n<p>Pratt, while still a long shot, could reframe the race in \u201cmonumental ways\u201d by keeping the focus on the Palisades fire, which could hurt Bass, said Sara Sadhwani, a politics professor at Pomona College.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVoters tend to have short-term memory, so its entirely possible fires could have subsided into background as we got closer,\u201d Sadhwani said. \u201cHe will keep the fires at the forefront of this race, and, without a doubt, the fires are Karen Bass\u2019 greatest failure as mayor.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bass began the anniversary at a private vigil at the Self-Realization Lake Shrine in Pacific Palisades. Later in the morning, she presided over a ceremony at City Hall where flags were lowered to half-staff in memory of the fire victims.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe whole city &#8230; has been on this journey called grief, and it\u2019s a journey that hits you in the middle of the day sometimes,\u201d Bass told the crowd of roughly 100 people. \u201cYou don\u2019t even really know what was going on, and you get walloped with a thought, a memory, where you were, what was lost.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Earlier, she said that she is using the full extent of her powers to \u201crestore the Palisades community and return families home as quickly and safely as possible.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>The mayor has been highlighting her work in cutting red tape at the Department of Building and Safety, which is reviewing and signing off on rebuilding plans for Palisades residents who lost their homes. By Wednesday, permits had been issued for nearly 700 addresses in the Palisades, with more than 400 under construction, according to city officials.<\/p>\n<p>Bass\u2019 campaign team slammed Pratt\u2019s entry into the race.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s no shock that in advance of his imminent book release, a reality TV \u2018villain\u2019 who once staged a fake divorce to boost ratings and spent the last summer spewing post-fire misinformation and disinformation to pump up his social media following, would now announce he\u2019s running for Mayor,\u201d Bass campaign spokesperson Douglas Herman said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>Pratt did not immediately respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n<p>His forthcoming book is titled \u201cThe Guy You Loved to Hate: Confessions from a Reality TV Villain.\u201d His author bio describes him as \u201cgoing viral on TikTok for his crystal hauls, hummingbird obsession, absurd burrito stunts, and raw documentation of his family\u2019s harrowing experience during the Pacific Palisades wildfire.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He became famous in the aughts for his role on \u201cThe Hills,\u201d which was so popular that fans <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/entertainment\/tv\/la-et-st-the-hills-mtv-20190624-story.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">flocked to the restaurants and nightclubs<\/a> where the cast hung out. At one point, the plot revolved around whether Heidi Montag \u2014 then Pratt\u2019s girlfriend and now his wife \u2014 had spread a sex tape rumor about her former friend, Lauren Conrad. <\/p>\n<p>As he has grown into a national political figure, Pratt has tried to avoid being pinned down as a Republican or a Democrat. He has worked with many Republicans, including some in President Trump\u2019s administration, on fire-related causes. Still, he doesn\u2019t view himself as a Republican, he has told multiple outlets.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf Newsom and Bass were Republicans, I\u2019d be doing the exact same thing: spitting facts,\u201d he told <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/news\/politics-news\/spencer-pratt-interview-fight-justice-palisades-fire-1236400358\/#:~:text=Though%20Pratt%20says%20he&#039;s%20nonpartisan,out%20for%20fire%2Dprone%20areas.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the Hollywood Reporter<\/a> in October. <\/p>\n<p>Pratt and Montag <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/entertainment-arts\/story\/2025-01-23\/spencer-pratt-heidi-montag-lawsuit-la-city-dwp-palisades-fire\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sued the city<\/a> in January after their Palisades house burned down, arguing that the Santa Ynez reservoir should not have been offline and empty when the fire erupted. <\/p>\n<p>As recently as Tuesday, Pratt <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/spencerpratt\/status\/2008703914951262619\" target=\"_blank\">posted on X<\/a> saying he was \u201cshocked that 7% of Angelenos have \u2018a great deal of confidence\u2019 in their city and state government.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHave they looked around?\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n<p>In the past, Pratt has also hinted at a run for governor. On his website, he still advertises \u201cSpencer for Governor\u201d shirts for $20, at a more than a 50% discount.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Spencer Pratt, a reality television star and social media influencer who lost his home in the Palisades fire,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":500348,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[18485,42044,6297,2451,171,42474,3153,24598,316,224580,62840,17254,3546,6176,25548,190258,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-500347","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-anniversary","9":"tag-announcement","10":"tag-bass","11":"tag-city","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-failure","14":"tag-governor","15":"tag-hills","16":"tag-home","17":"tag-l-a-mayor","18":"tag-palisades-community","19":"tag-palisades-fire","20":"tag-people","21":"tag-race","22":"tag-response","23":"tag-spencer-pratt","24":"tag-united-states","25":"tag-unitedstates","26":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115857201852626687","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=500347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500347\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/500348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=500347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=500347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=500347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}