I’m sure nobody gave Spencer Pratt much of a chance when he first jumped into the Los Angeles mayoral race. He was the reality TV guy, the novelty candidate, the one you watch for entertainment and then forget on Election Day. But something unexpected happened: voters started paying attention, and they realized he was a serious candidate offering serious solutions when, frankly, the current leadership has failed them.
And now the money is following.
New campaign finance disclosures show Pratt raised roughly $2.7 million between April 19 and May 15 alone, nearly matching the approximately $2.8 million Mayor Karen Bass has collected since 2024. Until this latest surge, Pratt had raised about $540,000 since Jan. 1, a solid number that put him among the field's top fundraisers, but still left him in Bass's rearview mirror. Not anymore.
There are a few reasons this fundraising haul is especially striking. For starters, Pratt reported 8,490 individual contributions in the most recent period. And then there’s the pace. Pratt raised over $2.7 million between April 19 and May 16 alone. Over that same stretch, Mayor Karen Bass pulled in a measly $282,000. That’s a nearly 10-to-1 fundraising advantage for the challenger over the incumbent.
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The cash-on-hand numbers are where Bass should be losing sleep. Pratt is now sitting on roughly $1.42 million, a figure that slightly edges out Bass's approximately $1.32 million. It's a huge deal that a candidate whom few people were taking seriously not all that long ago is outpacing financially the incumbent mayor, who has been raising money since 2024.
Pratt's rise isn't accidental. His message is resonating with a public that failed leadership has frustrated, as it has given them nothing but more crime, homelessness, and incompetence, including the city's disastrous response to the Palisades fire that burned down his own family's home.
The filings suggest Pratt built two campaigns at once: thousands of small-dollar donors alongside hundreds of larger contributors.
The surge comes as Pratt has intensified his campaign presence in recent weeks with public appearances, campaign events and viral online messages centered around city frustration, government accountability and rebuilding following the Palisades fire that destroyed his family’s home.
The latest fundraising reports also show Councilmember Nithya Raman remaining a player. Raman reported roughly $931,000 raised, more than $1.5 million in total receipts, and more than $1 million cash on hand as the race enters its final stretch.
The fundraising surge also means Pratt is heading into the closing days with one of the largest financial cushions in the field.
Conventional wisdom has long been that Los Angeles would never elect someone such as Spencer Pratt. The city was considered too blue, too entrenched, too loyal to the same political machine that helped drive it into decline. But voters living among sprawling homeless encampments, watching crime rise, and seeing leaders fail basic tests of competence are clearly losing patience with politics as usual.
That’s why Pratt suddenly looks like a real threat.
Karen Bass spent years assuming the city’s overwhelming Democratic registration would protect her from accountability. Now she’s staring at a likely runoff against a candidate who built momentum by saying out loud what frustrated Angelenos already know: the city is failing, and the people in charge keep making excuses for it. At some point, even Democrat voters reach a limit, and Bass may be finding out exactly where that limit is.
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