UPDATED: Among plenty in Hollywood, the race for Los Angeles mayor isn’t so much a question of who to support, but rather how did it come to this?

“A continued mess,” laments one top industry donor.

With less than two weeks to go before the city’s crowded primary, polls point to incumbent Karen Bass and reality star Spencer Pratt emerging as the top two heading into a November runoff. Councilmember Nithya Raman, meanwhile, is hoping to break through.

Each of the candidates has shored up constituencies in recent weeks ahead of the June 2 election: Bass has lined up union support in particular, including the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, yet she is likely to remain the focal point of long-simmering anger over issues ranging from homelessness to last year’s fire response.

Raman has drawn heavy donor backing from writers and others in the creative community, yet she has slipped in polls since a so-so showing in the primary’s marquee debate.

Pratt has seized on the fervor for an outsider with a knack for drawing attention, with some prominent Democrats backing his campaign. Yet he faces doubts that he can emerge the ultimate winner as a Trump-ish candidate in a November election that likely will be a referendum on the president.

“Angelenos are frustrated and angry and they are looking for a place to direct those feelings,” said Dan Schnur, professor at USC’s Annenberg School as well as Berkeley and Pepperdine. “Karen Bass is the incumbent mayor and is definitionally part of the political establishment. So much of that rage gets directed toward her. What is still unclear is the extent her opponents take advantage of that.”

How L.A. Got Here

Four years ago, Bass was engaged in a highly competitive campaign against real estate developer Rick Caruso, who tapped into voter discontent over the city’s homelessness crisis. But Bass, a well-respected member of Congress and, earlier, the state Assembly, also sounded the alarm as an outsider to the city establishment, and handily beat Caruso in the general election.

She started building a reelection war chest early and, even in the midst of the tumultuous summer of the 2024 presidential election, was able to draw an extensive list of contributions from longtime entertainment industry donors including J.J. Abrams, Marta Kauffman and Jeffrey Katzenberg.

The January 2025, fires in particular put Bass’ future in doubt, as she was in Ghana as the inferno destroyed much of Pacific Palisades. Since then, her prospects have seemingly ebbed and flowed, as Caruso took to social media to relentlessly hammer rebuilding efforts, while Bass took a defiant stance as Donald Trump’s ICE agents conducted raids across the city last summer.

Caruso, who looked to be Bass’ primary rival in a rematch, ultimately decided not to run, passing not just on a mayor’s race but also a gubernatorial bid. Another rival, Austin Beutner, dropped out. But on the day of the filing deadline, Bass found herself with a surprise opponent, Raman, who had been an ally and stood to run to her left in the heavily Democratic city.

Raman’s district encompasses the Hollywood Hills, Studio City, Sherman Oaks and nearby areas, with a significant contingent of the industry’s creative class among her constituents. She has been able to line up donors including Ed Zwick, Colin Jost, Chelsea Handler and John August, as well as David Mandel, who earlier gave to Bass.

All of the candidates have made boosting film and TV production in the city a priority, even if the real impact likely comes from production incentives at the state or federal level.

Raman recently told Deadline, “I sit in City Hall every day and I feel a rudderlessness in the building. There is a lack of creative thinking. Besides all the new projects and programs suddenly being announced because there s an election, there is a lack of ambition for the future of this city.” She has said that she would move more aggressively to streamline bureaucracy and make it more “predictable” for the industry to invest in the city.

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Bass told Deadline that Raman “has never initiated one thing for the industry, and has recused herself from everything. I understand she has a familial connection, but… she has not shown any leadership at all while being on council, so it’s hard for me to understand how, then, you show major leadership as mayor.” When it comes to production, Bass has pointed to efforts to eliminate red tape and location costs, among other industry initiatives.

By April, reports showed that Raman and Pratt slightly outraised Bass, further evidence that the race remained competitive.

But the dynamics shifted with the May 6 mayoral debate, as Pratt exceeded expectations given his lack of political experience, as his most prominent role has been as a love-to-hate reality star on The Hills and social media influencer.

Since then, Pratt’s candidacy, which has seized on the possibilities of AI-generated political videos, has caught the attention of the national media, whether it be ABC News or TMZ, along with a slew of laudatory coverage on the right including Fox News Digital and the California Post. That has helped elevate the mayoral race to the point where, in response to a reporter’s question earlier this week, Trump expressed his backing of Pratt, adding, “I hear he’s been a big MAGA person.”

Pratt has managed to draw support from Democrats, including prominent industry donors like Haim Saban, the longtime mega-fundraiser for the party, and other figures including Laura Wasserman, the music supervisor and former wife of Casey Wasserman. David Foster and his wife, Katharine McPhee, hosted a fundraiser for him earlier this month, and figures like Brett Ratner and Bobby Kotick are among his other donors.

Director Joseph Kahn posted on X this week that Pratt was “very smart. He’s got a political science degree at USC. He also has one thing any leader of LA should have: charisma. That’s my crystal power, reality tv, USC poli sci, burnt down house, common sense, high energy, good dad, unite the city, I Love LA Mayor.”

Mathew Littman of political strategy firm HowLitt credits Pratt with understanding how to break through with a communications message, something many Democrats do not. “People were not paying attention. Spencer Pratt has forced people to,” he said.

Even so, he said, “people like Karen Bass personally and that probably will bode well for her in a general election.”

Pratt and Raman, Littman said, are “vessels for the anger” over what has happened in Los Angeles.

“It is the Donald Trump thing — ‘I am going to blow things up because it can’t get much worse.’ But it can be much worse.”

While Pratt is only the latest in a long line of outsider candidates seeking to shake up City Hall, he has name ID and a narrative tied to the city’s recent trauma: His home was destroyed in the Palisades fires, something he blames squarely on Bass.

“Everything I am saying is common sense,” he recently told CNN. “We’ve just lost it in Los Angeles.”

Pratt’s Reality Check

As he has risen in the polls and prominence, so too has his past as a brash, reality TV persona.

Jon Vein, an entrepreneur and former entertainment executive and longtime donor and activist in Democratic politics, recently posted a lengthy warning on Facebook about Pratt.

Vein’s brother, Larry, a Palisades resident who was behind the Pali Strong recovery campaign, had become a point person for fire recovery information. He was awarded FireAid charity funds and those funds were transferred to a non-profit. Because Pali Strong did not have 501(c)(3) status, Larry was required to submit for approval any expenditures which he wanted to make in accordance with his grant, Vein noted. In many cases, such as a community wide event at the Santa Monica Pier, Larry Vein went significantly out of pocket, he said. However, Pratt targeted Larry, sweeping him into unfounded controversy, adding substantially to other interpersonal and financial stresses, Vein said.

Jon Vein wrote, “On a personal level, Spencer Pratt publicly brutalized my brother Larry on social media. He spread falsehoods about him and targeted him purely to elevate himself online. He is a bully, and our family is considering possible actions to hold him accountable. As many of you know, Larry took his life a couple weeks ago.” His death was ruled a suicide.

From a qualifications level, among other things, Vein pointed out Pratt’s financial challenges as well as Pratt’s association with Alex Jones, the conspiracy theorist who was found liable to parents for a conspiracy theory that the Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax.

Vein wrote, “His fame was built largely on provoking conflict, humiliating people, and creating outrage for entertainment and personal gain. That may work in reality television and social media culture, but it is not leadership, and it is certainly not qualification to run one of the largest and most complex cities in America.”

Pratt did not respond to a request for comment.

In the recent debate, Pratt was asked how his experience would qualify him to manage a $14 billion budget. “I’m humble. I’m going to surround myself with the smartest people in the world,” he said.

If he makes the runoff, Pratt’s biggest challenge may not be any past reality TV controversies but something more structural: Running in a city where Democrats hold a lopsided voter-registration edge, The mayor’s race is nonpartisan, but the last Republican to be elected mayor was Richard Riordan in 1993, winning another term in 1997.

In the CNN interview, Pratt was asked about why he became a Republican, and he cited the need to buy a gun for protection after he emerged as a “hated reality star” amid his role on The Hills. He said that Republicans were the only ones who supported concealed weapons permits. Asked to name a political role model, Pratt named Jesus Christ, but after anchor Elex Michaelson asked him for a modern choice, he named Barack Obama.

As Pratt’s candidacy capitalizes on the dismay of Angelenos, the voter pool of the November election will likely be far different that the primary, a referendum on the president. As one Democratic fundraiser put it, if Bass and Pratt are the choices, “I think it’s her,” despite the anti-incumbent sentiment. “She’s very lucky.”

“From Bass’ perspective, this is a campaign about fire and ICE,” Schnur said. “If she is able to convince voters that her pushback on Trump is a defining characteristic, then she will probably win.”

“Whether Pratt has a chance of winning or not,” he said, depends on whether the fire response are the issues that are “front and center.”

To some, the state of the race, though, reflects years of dismay over the level of enduring civic involvement in the city and the need for a more robust base of private and individual support. The irony is that Los Angeles will soon be on the global stage with the World Cup and the next mayor will preside over the 2028 Summer Olympics.

Donna Bojarsky, the founder of Future of Cities: Los Angeles, said, “The malaise surrounding this election speaks to the deep frustrations across the city. Despite all these international events, I would say there’s little joy in Mudville.”

This post corrected the reference to director Joseph Kahn.