Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt has said he is “cool” with two of the city’s most notorious street gangs.
The reality star, 42, announced his bid for LA mayor in January. He is campaigning on a platform aimed at taking down “California’s entrenched political establishment,” which he blames for the devastation of his Pacific Palisades neighborhood and surrounding areas during the 2025 LA wildfires.
As Pratt looks to garner last-minute support ahead of Tuesday’s primary election, he claimed in a new interview with Vanity Fair: “I’m meeting with the Bloods next week.”
“I’m cool with Crips and Bloods,” he continued of the notorious street gangs, both of which originated in California in 1969. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the groups were formed amid territorial conflicts “in which youths in neighborhoods felt the need to band together for protection from rival youths.” They have since established themselves in more traditional organized crime groups through the sale of cocaine.
Although best known for playing the villain on the reality series The Hills alongside his wife, Heidi Montag, Pratt is one of 12 candidates seeking to unseat incumbent Mayor Karen Bass.
The primaries will be held June 2, with the top two vote-getters, regardless of party, moving on to the November general election. However, should a candidate receive more than 50 percent of the votes in the primaries, they will win the office outright.
So far, polls suggest that Bass is leading the race, followed closely by Nithya Raman and Pratt. Still, the reality star remains confident in his chances of becoming the next LA mayor.
“Energetically it feels like I’m already in this new reality,” he said to Vanity Fair.
Pratt, a registered Republican, is running as an independent, previously stating, “This is not a partisan race.” He’s repeatedly pushed back against claims made by his opponents and even President Donald Trump that he’s a “big MAGA person.”
“I’d like to see him do well. I don’t know him. I assume he probably supports me,” Trump surmised last week.
Pratt has instead likened his political experience to that of former President Barack Obama.
“I have two awards from my community, President Obama actually didn’t even have awards when he was a community organizer,” he said to NBC Los Angeles earlier this month. “He was able to become a senator and then a president for eight years. So, I feel like him and I have the same experience.”
He added: “I represent all of Los Angeles. I do not represent a party. I don’t have a campaign manager. I don’t have campaign consultants. There’s no political party backing me.”
Pratt kicked off his mayoral campaign in January at a “They Let Us Burn” rally in the Palisades Village, a year after his house burned down in the devastating 2025 wildfires.
“Business as usual is a death sentence for Los Angeles, and I’m done waiting for someone to take real action. That’s why I am running for mayor,” he declared.
He has continued to be an outspoken critic of Bass and her response during the wildfires.
“Friendly reminder, LA: you have to endure one more fire season under Karen before I am Mayor, & she hasn't done a thing to protect you,” Pratt wrote Wednesday on X. “Our reservoir is empty AGAIN. Dried leaves, needles, and fronds on your roof is a guaranteed way to lose your home in a fire. Clean it up!”
