Spencer Pratt is using TikTok, AI-generated videos, and provocation to surge in Los Angeles’ jungle primary against Mayor Karen Bass and council member Nithya Raman—betting that online notoriety can translate into votes on June 2.
When Spencer Pratt talks about becoming Los Angeles mayor, he rarely sounds like he’s campaigning in the usual way. He talks like he’s fighting for airtime—using artificial intelligence videos, clip edits, and blunt, mocking messaging that looks closer to fringe internet politics than city hall.
On Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026, Pratt appeared during an appearance on “Fox & Friends” at Fox News headquarters in New York. The photo from that stop captured a candidate with a familiar grin and a modern pitch: he’s “winning the internet.” But Los Angeles voters will decide something much less viral on June 2. when they head to the city’s “jungle primary. ” a nonpartisan contest.
In that race, the stakes are straightforward. If any candidate surpasses 50% of the vote, that person becomes mayor. If nobody does, the top two vote-getters compete in a November runoff.
Pratt—described as a Republican—will face incumbent Democratic Mayor Karen Bass and progressive council member Nithya Raman. Polls show Pratt and Raman neck and neck, while Bass commands a comfortable lead.
Still. Pratt’s campaign has leaned hard into the internet as a weapon. and his supporters have helped spread it at speed. He has amplified outlandish AI videos. including one depicting lightsaber duels between him and Bass and another where he’s portrayed as Batman descending on a burning Los Angeles to save the day. His campaign has also tapped freelance “clippers” to edit short social media snippets of him bashing city leaders.
He has gone further into conspiracy-style claims and language meant to provoke. Pratt says. without evidence. that “socialists in LA city government are stealing your money.” He has denigrated the city’s homeless as fentanyl-addled “zombies.” He has promised to clear out encampments by mass-arresting people living on the streets. He has also pushed false narratives about California lawmakers’ response to the Palisades Fire.
The sharpest line in that campaign pitch is aimed at Bass’ response to the devastating Pacific Palisades wildfires. which claimed Pratt’s family home. On TikTok. Pratt has condemned Bass as “the mayor who let the town burn down. ” framing city leadership as tolerating a deterioration in residents’ quality of life—his phrase on TikTok is “a city battered by fires. homelessness and crime.”.
Those claims have drawn immediate pushback from opponents who say the spectacle is replacing substance. Pratt and his campaign did not return requests for an interview. Bass did not offer any comment.
Raman, through a spokesman, dismissed Pratt’s online tactics. In a statement. she said the AI slop videos show how out of touch he is with an “existential concern” to the city’s entertainment industry. She argued that “Hollywood jobs are being devastated by AI. ” while Pratt is using his platform to promote AI-generated content amplifying the very technology replacing the workers he claims to care about. Raman added that the campaign’s videos are made by working film and television professionals who believe Los Angeles can be better.
The argument inside the race isn’t only about policy—it’s about tone and strategy. Steve Bannon, Donald Trump’s former top adviser, praised Pratt’s style while describing why it might work online. “He’s probably the most Trumpian candidate we’ve ever seen in terms of house style,” Bannon said. He added that Trump’s “superpower was bringing in people into politics who hate politics. and that’s what he’s doing online right now.”.
Bannon’s comparison points to the human machinery behind the internet push: Pratt isn’t just posting. He’s built a circulation system around the content—an ecosystem of supporters, conservative influencers, and platforms willing to amplify it.
Pratt had a megaphone of millions of social media followers before he ran for public office. and that foundation helped supercharge the spread of the AI videos made by his fans. Elon Musk has also repeatedly reshared and replied to Pratt’s content on X, the platform the tech mogul owns. Conservative influencers—including Laura Loomer. Ben Shapiro. and Benny Johnson—have been ready to comment and repost when Pratt wants his messages to travel farther.
Former Los Angeles City Councilmember Mike Bonin, who now directs the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at Cal State Los Angeles, said Pratt’s online notoriety has helped him move from an unserious long-shot into a top three contender.
“Winning the internet is not the same thing as winning the election, but it can help,” Bonin said.
Bonin also pointed to timing and audience. He said Pratt’s approach reflects how right-leaning candidates feed into an internet ecosystem that is “well-practiced” at promoting itself through networks that already know how to share and amplify. He tied another boost to the launch of California Post. described as a West Coast edition of conservative New York Post owned by Rupert Murdoch. which began around the same time Pratt launched his campaign. Bonin said the outlet has been reinforcing what Pratt calls a dystopian crisis in Los Angeles. strengthening the narrative driving his online surge.
Still. the friction between internet theatrics and political legitimacy is real—and it shows up in how the race is being talked about by people who study politics and online culture. Dan Cassino. a government professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University who studies masculinity and politics. said Raman and Bass are taking “the Rose Garden strategy” by not trying to match Pratt’s intensity and absurdity. Cassino argued it may be politically wise because Pratt’s fans generate the content. while his opponents’ attempts to do the same could make them look inauthentic.
Cassino also described the appeal of Pratt’s messaging to the “red-pilled” world of online masculinity politics. where hard-edged talk and “hard truths” are framed as what polite society won’t acknowledge. He said endorsements and attention from the manosphere matter to Pratt’s credibility with that audience.
He pointed specifically to podcaster Joe Rogan’s endorsement of Pratt as proof of how the campaign fits that ecosystem. “Focusing on this audience is a way to target young men,” Cassino said. He compared that approach to Trump’s 2024 playbook. describing it as a repeat pattern in how fringe internet politics finds its way into elections.
Pratt’s supporters also help turn mockery into branding. Cassino said Pratt’s vague claim about a “Homeless Industrial Complex” is aimed at whipping up his fans online. adding that it is unsubstantiated. Cassino also said Pratt’s rhetoric about homeless people—calling them “zombies”—and his cruel. bully-like language has been tailored to young men online.
On social media, Pratt has relied on internet slang to sharpen his identity. His favorite pejorative for Bass is “Karen Basura,” Spanish for trash. He calls the mayor’s supporters “Bassholes.” On X. he has been praised as the candidate who is most “anti-woke” and “based”—two terms used as shorthand for refusing to soften or apologize.
The campaign’s tone has also echoed Bannon’s view of politics as drama rather than process. Bannon described Pratt as someone who understands what it takes to keep attention. “Pratt knows it’s not politics, it’s drama,” Bannon said. He added that Pratt has a “warrior mentality.”
But even Bannon—who sees the strength in Pratt’s style—warned about the risk of overusing it. If there is a criticism. he said. it’s Pratt’s “shameless promotion of AI slop.” He described the videos as entertaining but warned that they could turn off voters who might see them as trivializing the race. “On the AI slop, he’s one inch away from jumping the shark,” Bannon said. “It can be effective. but it’s starting to get tiresome. and it could backfire if you promote it too much.”.
For all that online heat, the electoral math is daunting for Pratt. Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans three to one in Los Angeles, creating a serious challenge if Pratt advances to the November runoff.
And there is another tension inside the politics Pratt is trying to borrow from Trump’s world. On Wednesday, Trump signaled support for Pratt. The report said Pratt’s mayoral bid didn’t immediately broadcast that support to his social media followers.
That restraint speaks to a tightrope Pratt appears to be walking. Even though Pratt is a registered Republican. he has tried to separate himself from the MAGA movement and has repeatedly highlighted that the mayor’s race in Los Angeles is nonpartisan. Cassino framed it as a strategy—Bass and Raman don’t need to “debate” the performance. and Pratt doesn’t necessarily need to mimic the broader national movement to win attention.
Bannon, who helped architect the MAGA movement, framed his own support as conditional. “Tell him I would endorse him,” Bannon said. “But I don’t want to hurt his chances of winning in LA.”
Spencer Pratt Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass Nithya Raman jungle primary TikTok AI videos Palisades Fire homeless encampments Steve Bannon Donald Trump Joe Rogan Elon Musk X