Spencer Pratt, known from reality TV, announced a mayoral run against Karen Bass after losing his Palisades home in the January fire; he framed his campaign as a fight against what he calls systemic failures in LA and at the state level, promising to expose corruption and overhaul public safety and emergency response.
Pratt declared his run at the “They Let Us Burn” rally in Pacific Palisades on the fire’s anniversary, speaking from personal loss and anger. He described losing his home and possessions, and said the experience reshaped his view of government responsibility. Pratt placed blame squarely on state and local leaders for policy choices and operational failures that he says worsened the disaster.
He began his remarks emotionally, using blunt, memorable lines to make his point about both grief and accountability. The crowd heard him compare his own tears to the lack of water in public reservoirs, a line intended to underline the human cost of administrative failures. His speech quickly shifted from personal pain to a list of what he called policy failures that allowed the fire to become catastrophic.
“I’ve got more water coming out of my eyes than LADWP had in both our reservoirs,” a tearful Pratt said as he began his remarks.
“On January 7, 2025, Heidi and I lost our home. We lost every material possession we owned. My parents lost their home too, and with it decades of memories made inside those walls. I grew up in the Palisades. I moved through these streets thinking my two boys would grow up here just like I did, with that same hometown feeling. And then, right before my eyes, the future I envisioned from my family burned to the ground.
“Standing here one year later, I have to tell you that the most heartbreaking part of the past year wasn’t being displaced or losing everything I owned; it was the realization that all of this was preventable.”
Pratt walked the audience through what he sees as a series of preventable mistakes: decades of neglected brush management, insurance markets that pulled out of high-risk areas, and local agencies that failed to maintain water supplies. He argued that these were not isolated oversights but predictable outcomes of bad policy choices. His rhetoric mixed personal grievance with political accusation, aiming to turn anger into voter motivation.
We are standing here amongst the ashes of our once beautiful town because the state and local leaders let us burn. Gavin Newsom and the State of California let brush grow wild in Topanga State Park for 50 years with no prescribed burns and no wildfire maintenance. Gavin Newsom and the State of California created an insurance market so hostile that every major carrier stopped writing policies and dropped our families and our neighbors just before the sparks flew here in the Palisades.
Gavin Newsom and his State Park policies actually literally dictated that we let the Palisades burn, and his Park Rangers put kindling over the smoldering embers of the January 1st Lachman fire, which would ultimately ignite the January 7th Palisades fire that burned 7,000 structures and took 12 lives.
Janisse Quinones and the LADWP left our reservoirs empty despite collecting a salary of $750,000 per year. The LAFD failed to deploy sufficient firefighters, fire engines, and firefighting resources, whether it be due to lack of budget, lack of knowledge, or simply DEI. And while our lives were literally burning to the ground, Mayor Karen Bass was in Ghana.
He did not spare local bureaucracy and municipal regulations, arguing that red tape and permit hurdles stop families from rebuilding even after federal and federal-adjacent relief arrives. Pratt said loan approvals and cleanup efforts meant little when city rules made reconstruction nearly impossible. That line of argument appealed to voters frustrated by slow government and competing priorities that, to them, feel detached from public safety.
We all cope with loss differently. I coped with mine by eating burritos and putting every ounce of energy into uncovering the truth, and the dirty facts I’ve uncovered this year have completely blown me away. They have changed the way I view the world forever.
I used to think my taxpayer dollars funded a functional city and a state government whose infrastructure and essential services would be there when I needed them, but I was completely naive.
Our elected officials were warned for years about brush management about the homeless crisis, interrupting our fire safety, about our city’s crumbling infrastructure, but they did nothing. They all stood by while our community became a tinderbox. And when the photo ops were done, they retreated into their office and buried fire victims in bureaucracy.
Despite record-breaking cleanup by the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers, and despite nearly $4 billion in loans approved by the SBA, most fire victims cannot rebuild due to building permits and city regulations. This isn’t just a political failure; it’s a moral one.
Pratt referenced his TV past and argued his time in the public eye taught him how politics can be performative. He said the visibility that comes with celebrity makes him suited to expose what he calls entrenched interests that protect insiders. The speech mixed pop-culture credibility with populist anger aimed at unions, nonprofits, and political machines he says prioritize themselves over residents.
You know, I’ve spent a lot of my life in the public eye, and I’ve seen the games people play. I know the scripts they follow and the masks they wear. But this past year has stripped all that away. I have looked at my kids and my wife, I have looked at my family and my neighbors, and I have realized that the city I love is being managed into the ground by people who don’t have the courage to actually lead.
NGOs, non-profits, and unions are running this town. Why do you think $100 million in FireAid money is missing? The system in Los Angeles isn’t struggling; it’s fundamentally broken. It is a machine designed to protect the people at the top and the friends they exchange favors with while the rest of us drown in toxic smoke and ash.
Pratt leaned into his reputation for bluntness, saying his temper once flared over personal slights but now fuels a protective impulse for his family and community. He positioned his campaign as a mission, not a spectacle, promising to dig into city politics and clean up what he sees as corruption. That promise culminated in a direct line: he is running for mayor to force accountability and overhaul how Los Angeles handles disasters and infrastructure.
Business as usual is a death sentence for Los Angeles, and I’m done waiting for someone to take real action.
That’s why I am running for mayor.
And let me be clear: This isn’t just a campaign. This is a mission, and we’re gonna expose the system. We’re going into every dark corner of LA politics and disinfecting the city with our light, and when we are done, LA is going to be camera-ready again.
The announcement injected a new voice into the mayoral race, one that combines celebrity, grievance, and a call for sweeping changes in emergency planning and municipal accountability. Pratt’s pitch is straightforward: voters should punish what he calls mismanagement and reward leaders who prioritize safety and transparency. Whether that message gains traction will depend on how voters weigh celebrity and outrage against experience and traditional municipal politics.
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