Spencer Pratt, the former “The Hills” reality star who entered Los Angeles’ mayoral race as a longshot Republican candidate, conceded Friday in a video posted to social media, but said the concession marks only the end of “the campaign portion” of his effort to “save” the city.
“The campaign portion of my mission to save Los Angeles is coming to a close,” Pratt said in the video. He then pivoted to a combative tone aimed at the two candidates advancing to the general election: City Councilmember Nithya Raman and incumbent Mayor Karen Bass. “I don’t have campaign laws hamstringing me now,” Pratt said. “It’s war.”
Pratt notably did not echo Trump’s repeated and unsupported allegations of a “crooked” election in California. Trump, who endorsed Pratt in May, had called the state’s elections “rigged” without evidence. Pratt did not contest the outcome of the primary.
Raman, a progressive city councilmember, edged out Pratt on Monday to finish second in the mayoral primary, setting up a November runoff with Bass, who fell short of a majority but led the field.
In the video, Pratt said he had recordings that could prove damaging to either Raman or Bass. “We have some recordings of one of your exalted candidates doing and saying something that would make her resign in shame,” he said. “I was saving it for the general election.”
The candidate had previously told podcast host Adam Carolla in May that if Bass was reelected or Raman won, he would “be done with trying to live in LA.” In Friday’s video, however, he reversed that statement, saying, “I’m moving on to the next, more interesting phase.”
“I didn’t get in this for political power, I got in this to expose this corrupt machine,” Pratt said. “Nothing’s changed. You enjoy your worthless meetings at city hall.”
Pratt launched his campaign in January on the one-year anniversary of the Palisades fire, the largest wildfire in Los Angeles County history, which destroyed his home in the Pacific Palisades. He centered his bid on apocalyptic warnings about the city’s future and the recovery from the blaze.
As a registered Republican running in heavily Democratic Los Angeles — which has not elected a Republican mayor in more than two decades — Pratt faced steep odds. He frequently faced questions about his lack of political experience, even as Trump’s endorsement and the candidate’s viral online presence drew national attention to the race.
“You think your election is going to stop me,” Pratt said. “If you want to stop me, you’re going to have to fucking kill me.”