Reality television personality and Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt said he is “cool with Crips and Bloods” and plans to meet with members of rival street gangs as he ramps up his outside campaign seeking to oust Karen Bass in next week’s city primary election.
In an interview published Wednesday with Vanity Fair, Pratt described his efforts to expand his support beyond wealthy Westside communities while hosting a campaign event turned block party in South Central Los Angeles on the front lawn of an apartment building he said sits in the Rollin’ 60s Neighborhood Crips territory.
“I’m meeting with the Bloods next week,” Pratt said. “I’m cool with the Crips and Bloods.”
Pratt, a Republican, portrayed the outreach as part of an attempt to connect with communities that have traditionally backed Democratic candidates in city politics.
The former “The Hills” star, who launched his mayoral campaign in January, also acknowledged that he entered the race initially to politically damage Karen Bass after losing his Pacific Palisades home in the wildfire, which he blames on the incumbent’s poor emergency management.
“I entered to damage Karen Bass as much as possible,” Pratt said, adding that he wanted voters to know “the truth” about what he viewed as failures in Bass and the city’s wildfire response.
Pratt said he now believes he can win, telling the outlet he feels “energetically” destined to become mayor. He explained that he hasn’t slept for “more than four hours in about 18 months.”
“I keep telling Heidi I have one arm into my future, so that’s why I keep saying I’m for sure going to be mayor,” he said, recalling a conversation with his wife and former co-star, Heidi Montag. “Because energetically it feels like I’m already in this new reality.”
The interview’s publication follows Pratt filing an election complaint against Bass, accusing the mayor of violating city election laws over a social media video showing supporters near a ballot drop box chanting “four more years” while casting ballots. Pratt alleged the video amounted to improper electioneering and said Bass was “illegally gaming the election.”
Bass has not publicly responded in detail to the complaint, though she recently dismissed Pratt as lacking experience to govern the nation’s second-largest city.
Pratt has built an unconventional campaign in the city’s nonpartisan race, centered on criticism of Bass’s wildfire response, homelessness, and public safety.
Even Pratt’s own family doubted his campaign would take off; his sister, Stephanie Pratt, admitted she was wrong for doubting her brother.
SPENCER PRATT’S VIRAL MAYORAL RUN GAINS TRACTION IN LOS ANGELES DESPITE INCONSISTENCIES IN MESSAGING
“I admit I was the first person to tell people that they were idiots if they voted for my brother,” Stephanie Pratt said. “Wow, was I wrong. He has spent every day since the fires, finding the facts, the mistakes, the negligence, and uncovering the truth that they never wanted us to know.”
But Pratt has proven he means business, as recent polling has placed him just 8 points behind Bass, a significant jump from polling done two months prior.