A Los Angeles mayoral candidate with deep ties to reality TV has centered his homelessness pitch on drug treatment and a federally backed “campus” idea—prompting a sharp warning from MSNBC’s Jacob Soboroff, who compared Spencer Pratt’s rhetoric to President Do
When Los Angeles was still reeling from the 2025 Palisades Fire, Spencer Pratt’s political pitch began to take shape—less like a detailed governing plan and more like a promise rooted in personal loss.
MSNBC host Rachel Maddow and guest Jacob Soboroff discussed why Pratt. a former reality TV star from MTV’s “The Hills. ” is trying to become mayor. Soboroff told Maddow that Pratt’s motivation to run was primarily tied to the loss of his home in the devastating 2025 Palisades Fire. But it was what Pratt says about homelessness—especially how he says it—that drew the loudest warning.
Soboroff likened Pratt’s language about unhoused people in Los Angeles to President Donald Trump’s rhetoric about immigrants in the United States. “Spencer Pratt talks about unhoused people and the affordability crisis in Los Angeles. but the way he speaks about unhoused people here in L.A. is just like Donald Trump talks about immigrants in the United States of America,” Soboroff told Maddow. Soboroff said Pratt’s approach includes a desire “to round them up and put them into a ‘campus-like facility’ in partnership with the federal government.”.
Pratt, Soboroff added, may have plenty of boisterous ideas about how to run the nation’s second-largest city, but his proposed solutions “sound a lot more like the guy at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.”
That accusation lands in a campaign where Pratt has framed homelessness as a dominant theme. even as he has released few detailed policy plans compared to other candidates. He has also made sweeping claims about who he says is driving the crisis. Pratt’s public comments include the idea that the city “doesn’t have a homelessness problem. ” but instead faces a drug problem.
On CNN’s “The Lead” last week. Pratt said. “Mayor [Karen] Bass and Councilwoman [Nithya] Raman. they think empty beds. they think it’s a housing problem. It’s a drug addiction problem.” Pratt continued: “Of course. we need to house and find shelter and rehabs for these people. but we need to have mandatory treatment for people that are on drugs.”.
Those remarks feed into a broader proposal Pratt has described on national television: a “campus” built with private money on federal land to confine unhoused people with addiction issues. Pratt told “NBC Nightly News” anchor Tom Llamas last week that he wants private funding from billionaires to build the plan. describing it as a way to set up a facility aimed at unhoused drug addicts.
In that conversation, Pratt argued it would be cheaper to build at scale than to rely on existing systems. “I went to Washington with all the people that build the prefabricated homes. It’s actually cheaper to build an entire city of prefabricated homes with treatment facilities and medical [centers] than just launder money into buildings in L.A. ” Pratt said. “I have plenty of very successful philanthropic billionaires that I’ve met with that would love to invest in this.”.
Soboroff’s warning is also sharpened by Pratt’s standing among voters and his early political ties to President Donald Trump. Trump threw his support behind Pratt weeks before California’s primary election. Speaking to reporters. Trump said he’d “like to see him do well.” Trump also described Pratt as “a character” and said. “I heard he’s a big MAGA person. He’s doing well.”.
The campaign is now moving through a consequential point in the race. As of Wednesday evening. Pratt holds the second-place position in the mayoral primary behind incumbent Mayor Karen Bass with 62% of the vote counted. according to The Associated Press. Los Angeles city councilwoman Nithya Raman trails Pratt and Bass in third. Under the rules for the contest. the top two vote-getters will advance to the general election in November if no candidate receives 50%.
The overlap between the rhetoric Soboroff flagged and the political momentum Pratt has been building is hard to ignore: Pratt has made homelessness and drug treatment the spine of his message. pushed a “campus” concept tied to federal land and private billionaire funding. and gained support from Trump while positioning himself as a rising contender behind Bass.
For voters watching how policies are sold—and who is being promised to be managed, housed, or treated—the question now becomes whether the campaign’s language signals a fundamentally different approach or simply repackages a familiar style of politics with new labels for old conflicts.
Spencer Pratt Los Angeles mayoral primary homelessness drug addiction Jacob Soboroff Rachel Maddow Donald Trump Karen Bass Nithya Raman Palisades Fire campus-like facility prefabricated homes
Homelessness camps are a bad idea, period.
So he’s like… gonna “round them up” into a campus thing? That’s terrifying. I don’t care if it’s federal or whatever, seems like just another way to push people out.
Wait, I thought this was about the Palisades Fire? Like he lost his home and then now he’s mad at homeless people? That seems messed up but also I’m not sure if any of this is even real, MSNBC always spins stuff.
The way they’re comparing him to Trump… I mean Trump did say stuff about immigrants, but homeless people are literally out there in the open so everyone talks about it. Spencer Pratt being on reality TV doesn’t automatically mean he’s wrong though. Also “campus-like facility” sounds more like rehab/shelter to me, not like some crazy roundup. But if Soboroff says it’s the same rhetoric then ok, maybe it is. Either way LA politicians never do anything fast.