Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass advanced after Tuesday night’s early returns, but the mayoral race is far from settled. Councilmember Nithya Raman’s performance left her in striking distance, while former reality TV star Spencer Pratt—promising a message he says
On Tuesday night, Karen Bass sounded like a winner. Councilmember Nithya Raman sounded like she’d made peace with a possible outcome. And Spencer Pratt—former reality TV star and a candidate who frames his political push as part of a divine mission—delivered the kind of message that doesn’t land quietly.
Pratt joked that “God wanted five more months” of him “exposing all the failures of our mayor,” adding: “It’s gonna be a fun ride,” and “I hope she’s ready.”
The race is still being tallied after the initial hurdle, with the Nov. 3 general election approaching. Pratt, however, is still in the mix. If he holds on to one of the two spots for the general election as final votes are counted in the next few days. Bass would be expected to have the advantage—at least on paper.
But Pratt’s campaign has another force running alongside the usual political math: faith. In a city like Los Angeles, it’s an unusual dynamic—an incumbent mayor facing a challenger who has made God a near-constant presence in how he talks about the job.
The candidate has also leaned hard into that framing through media appearances. In a clip Pratt took with Fox News TV host Kayleigh McEnany. he mentioned God or Jesus 10 times in 1 minute and 52 seconds. Pratt said of his wife and former reality TV co-star Heidi Montag: “Thankfully. I married an angel who was very connected with Jesus and has brought me to the light.” He described praying for guidance and for help with the problems he says he wants to tackle. including animals. humans. and protecting the city. His quote continued: “It’s been very empowering to just pray and just be on his path and just say. ‘God. if you want me to save these animals. save these humans and protect my city. just keep putting me in the place where I can do that.’”.
For voters frustrated with dysfunction in local government, that blend—anger, celebrity edge, and religious certainty—can be compelling. Los Angeles has major issues. and Pratt’s pitch is built around the idea that they aren’t being fixed fast enough or at all. He is. at least in broad terms. pointing at matters many residents recognize: he’s argued there shouldn’t be people living on the streets. using drugs on the streets. or dying on the streets.
Still, the question that hangs over the race is how the campaign’s tone translates into governance. Bass is the incumbent, Raman leads a record in City Council, and Pratt is selling urgency with a message that suggests divine involvement at every turn.
If Pratt survives into the general election rather than Raman, the campaign could become a national media spectacle instead of a local fight focused on practical solutions. Raman’s advantage, by contrast, would be that she could push back on Bass with policy detail grounded in her experience.
Raman also carries an immediate vulnerability in the public debate around homelessness: she previously headed City Council’s homelessness committee. That fact sits uncomfortably beside any attempt to shift blame solely to Bass for failures the city has seen.
Pratt’s policy competence is another point of stress. He has not responded to offers for a get-together, and he has avoided local reporters who know the issues closely. Instead, his platform appears to live mostly on his campaign website. The argument made here is that while his platform touches public safety. fiscal integrity. and homelessness. its depth and attention to detail don’t read as strengths.
One part of Pratt’s promise stands out: a “treatment-led recovery model” that would address mental illness and addiction as the primary drivers of chronic homelessness. But that kind of work is largely shaped by the county’s responsibilities rather than the city’s—making it harder to deliver as mayor without cooperation well beyond City Hall.
That tension—between sweeping claims of mission and the bureaucratic reality of who controls what—may be exactly what makes this next phase so consequential.
The stakes are heightened by how beatable Bass appeared to be. In the last election, Rick Caruso gave her a scare. Caruso’s challenge was described as potent for reasons that went beyond name recognition: he had depth on the issues. was a successful businessman and philanthropist. served on the police commission and the water and power board. built relationships across the city. and he and his family poured time and millions of dollars into underserved communities.
This time, the case being made is that Bass could be pushed less by an experienced policy operator and more by a challenger who lost his house in the Palisades fire and later saw homeless encampments through his car window—then decided to run for mayor.
Some might have dismissed that as hubris. But in Pratt’s telling, it becomes something else: a mission from God. In the middle of that framing. the story returns again and again to the same central question—whether the city will get a serious argument about solutions. or a campaign powered by religious certainties and provocation.
By the time the votes settle. the city’s next mayoral showdown could look radically different depending on whether Pratt holds on. Raman pulls ahead. or Bass is confirmed as the standard-bearer once again. And if Pratt’s faith-fueled messaging carries through all the way to the general election. the race may not just be about homelessness and public safety. It could become a battle over who gets to define what redemption and responsibility look like in Los Angeles.
“Thank you, God.”
(steve.lopez@latimes.com)
Los Angeles mayoral race Karen Bass Nithya Raman Spencer Pratt homelessness public safety faith in politics Kayleigh McEnany Heidi Montag