Fresh off his standout performance on the Los Angeles mayoral debate stage last week, former reality TV star Spencer Pratt is dominating the political and cultural conversation as prediction markets signal his unlikely surge in the race.
Pratt, who is best known for his role as the villain on MTV’s reality series The Hills, entered the mayoral race after his home burned down in the 2025 Palisades fire. Initially, he was focused on calling out the overwhelming failures by city officials to prepare for and respond to the disaster.
But his campaign has evolved into a broader referendum on politics as usual in L.A. Pratt, a registered Republican, has been hammering city leaders over homelessness, public safety, affordability, and basic services, and he has been especially critical of the millions spent on homeless outreach and non-profit contracts.
The Prediction Markets
As reported on Monday’s AM Update, no formal post-debate polls have been released, but the prediction markets have been telling. On Polymarket, Pratt went from a 13 percent chance of winning the race to 30 percent as of Sunday night.
Incumbent Mayor Karen Bass has also seen her chances rise since the debate, up from 27 percent to 49 percent, largely thanks to the complete collapse of progressive City Councilwoman Nithya Raman. Raman has fallen from 55 percent to 22 percent.
On Kalshi, Bass is at 51 percent compared to Pratt’s 30 percent. While not a substitute for polling, betting markets suggest traders now see Pratt as Bass’ closest challenger heading into the final stretch.
Mayor Bass seemingly came to the same realization, announcing over the weekend that she will no longer attend the next televised forum set for this coming Wednesday. Pratt had previously declined an invitation due to “scheduling conflicts.”
The CBS Controversy
With a higher profile comes a higher level of scrutiny, and Pratt is currently experiencing that firsthand. He found himself in a face-off with CBS News over claims of biased edits to an interview he gave on the burned-out lot where his home once stood.
The outlet condensed the interview into a short package for CBS Mornings featuring unflattering clips from Pratt’s reality show villain days and its own political analysis. But Pratt did not take the segment lying down.
In a series of social media posts, he accused CBS of cutting the sit-down into a “hit piece.” He said the network “filmed with me on my burned out lot for over an hour, and they turned it over to Karen Bass’ PR team to edit it into a comical five minute hit piece with clips from The Hills. They can’t beat my ideas. They can’t beat me in the debates. So they got to try to turn my campaign into a sideshow.”
On Saturday, CBS News caved to the pressure and posted the full 28-minute interview online. In the extended cut, Pratt elaborated on one of the central arguments of his campaign, that political experience in Los Angeles is not an asset if the people with experience are the ones who created the crisis.
REPORTER: Why should voters believe that you, who don’t have any experience in that realm, can actually be the solution?
PRATT: Yeah, because we’re living their experience right now. Their experience has failed us. So what we need is somebody to come in with common sense. They’re going to continue. Their experience is to tell you that all of these people are– just need a bed. We need more, billions of dollars for these beds. The DEA has said 90 percent of the people living on the streets in Los Angeles are drug addicts. Drug addicts do not want beds. They want drugs. We need mandatory treatment. I don’t mean jail. They don’t all need to get jail. But we need to get mandatory medical treatment to get people off of super meth, get them off of fentanyl, and then we can work on getting them beds.
In another moment, Pratt addressed comparisons between himself and socialist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. “The one thing I connect with is I know he promised his voters, like, ‘The subway will be free,’ and I’m promising my voters the metro – the metro buses, the metro trains – they will be free from urine, feces, stabbing, attacks,” he said. “So, that’s kind of similar. We both had free things for public transportation.”
Why Pratt Resonates
Pratt’s insurgent viewpoints, social media savvy, and effective communication style had already attracted a legion of supporters, but now his campaign is in the national spotlight. On Monday’s edition of The Megyn Kelly Show, Megyn and Michael Knowles, host of The Michael Knowles Show, discussed why Pratt is surging and the uphill battle he still faces in deep blue L.A. Watch:
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Knowles by tuning in to episode 1,314 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s The Megyn Kelly Channel (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.