Reality TV star Spencer Pratt is becoming a real player in Los Angeles politics, rocketing into second place in the latest mayor’s race poll and scrambling what was already shaping up to be a volatile election.
The new UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs survey shows incumbent Karen Bass leading the crowded field with 25% support. But right behind her is Pratt at 11%, a jarring twist that puts the celebrity candidate ahead of seasoned politicians and injects fresh chaos into the race.
City Councilmember Nithya Raman trails in third with 9%, while the rest of the 14-person field struggles to break out of the low single digits.
A full 40% of likely voters say they’re still undecided just two months before the June 2 primary, an unusually high number that signals deep dissatisfaction, confusion, or both.
The poll surveyed 813 likely voters between March 15 and March 29 and has a margin of error of 4%, poll officials said.
“It is unusual for 40% of likely voters to be unsure of their choice just two months before an L.A. mayoralty election,” said Zev Yaroslavsky, who leads the Los Angeles Initiative at UCLA Luskin. “It’s a wide-open race.”
Pratt, best known for his reality TV fame, lost his home in the Palisades fire and emerged as a vocal critic of the city’s missteps in the aftermath.
That uncertainty is colliding with growing weakness for Bass.
The poll shows 49% of respondents now view the mayor unfavorably, a sharp jump from 32% just a year ago, as her reelection bid shapes up to be one of the toughest faced by an incumbent in decades.
Other candidates, including housing advocate Rae Chen Huang and nonprofit executive Adam Miller, each pulled just 3%, while 9% of voters said they’re backing someone else entirely.
The numbers suggest a fractured electorate, and a campaign still very much up for grabs.
If no candidate clears 50% in June, the top two will face off in a November runoff, a scenario that now looks increasingly likely.
