MTV star Spencer Pratt gaining in Los Angeles mayoral race against Karen Bass

Spencer Pratt’s campaign for Los Angeles mayor began as a celebrity long shot. Days before Tuesday’s primary, the former MTV reality star is threatening to force incumbent Mayor Karen Bass into a November runoff.

Pratt, best known for “The Hills,” is polling at 22% among likely voters in a new UC Berkeley-Los Angeles Times poll, just behind Bass at 26% and City Councilmember Nithya Raman at 25%. Pratt and Raman each gained eight percentage points since March, according to the poll.

Los Angeles mayoral elections are nonpartisan. If no candidate wins more than 50% in Tuesday’s primary, the top two finishers advance to a November runoff. In a crowded field, that means Pratt does not need to win outright to upend the race — he only needs to finish ahead of Raman.

Although the race is nonpartisan, Pratt is a registered Republican and has drawn attention from conservative media and Trump-aligned figures. He has rejected the “MAGA Republican” label and framed his campaign as a referendum on City Hall competence after the Pacific Palisades fire destroyed his home and his parents’ home.

“I only got into the race because nobody else was going to run,” Pratt said Thursday on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.” “I had to step up for my community and for Los Angeles.”

Pratt has lambasted the city’s challenges with homelessness, drug addiction, crime, fire preparedness and the cost of doing business. He has accused Bass, a former Democratic U.S. House member, of failing to keep residents safe and prepare Los Angeles for disasters.

“I don’t do national politics. I don’t do party politics,” Pratt said. “I do a nonpartisan race.”

Pratt also rejected Bass’ argument that homelessness has declined under her tenure, calling the city’s numbers “completely fabricated.” Bass has pointed to a 17.5% decline in homelessness.

“How do you clean that up? You enforce the law,” Pratt said. “The only laws that are enforced now are maybe parking tickets for people that are hard-working taxpayers that are just trying to get their matcha and have to step over a naked drug addict.”

Pratt said he would use California’s SB 43 law to move people with severe addiction or mental illness into mandatory treatment.

“It’s not a homelessness problem, it’s a drug addiction problem,” Pratt said.

The former reality star has also pitched himself as a pro-business candidate, saying he would cut red tape for builders and push for stronger film tax credits to bring production back to Hollywood.

“If you don’t feel safe on the streets, people don’t go to restaurants,” Pratt said. “Massachusetts has better tax credits than Hollywood,” he added.

Still, Pratt faces a difficult path in a heavily Democratic city where Bass remains the incumbent with institutional support and Raman is competing for anti-Bass voters.

Prediction market Kalshi had Pratt’s odds of winning at roughly 22% Thursday, reflecting growing interest in his candidacy but also the uncertainty surrounding the race.

The Los Angeles mayoral primary is Tuesday.

Disclosure: CNBC and Kalshi have a commercial relationship that includes customer acquisition and a minority investment.