Spencer Pratt Challenges Bass and Raman in Heated LA Mayoral Debate

Incumbent Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, Republican challenger Spencer Pratt, and Democratic Socialists of America-aligned City Councilwoman Nithya Raman clashed in a nonpartisan debate on Wednesday ahead of the city's June 2 mayoral primary.

NBC4 and Telemundo 52 hosted the event, which focused on public safety, affordability, and immigration. Conservative commentators on social media and some on the left said Pratt exceeded expectations in his political debut after his time as a reality star on The Hills.

Fox News Digital highlighted key moments, including Bass facing questions on the Palisades fires that ravaged Southern California in 2025.

Near the midpoint, Pratt criticized Bass's Inside Safe program, which aims to move homeless people from encampments into temporary or permanent indoor housing. A city report showed it cost $300 million and helped about 6,000 people, with 40 percent returning to the streets.

"First off, Inside Safe makes all of us outside unsafe," Pratt said. He added, "No matter how many beds you give these people, they are on super meth. They are on fentanyl. The DEA statistic says 93 percent of this is a drug addiction problem. I will go below the Harbor Freeway tomorrow with Raman and we can find some of these people she's going to offer treatment for. She's going to get stabbed in the neck."

Near the end, moderator Enrique Chiabra posed a yes-or-no question to the candidates. "There's an LA council member who wants voters to decide if non-citizens should be allowed to vote in local elections. Is this a yes or no, Mr. Pratt?" Chiabra asked.

Pratt replied, "No."

Bass gave a longer response, distinguishing between green card holders and illegal immigrants. She noted that some cities allow the former to vote in local elections.

Raman started, "Yeah, I would say again, it does depend in other places, school boards have non-citizens, non-citizens who are residents who vote for these," before a moderator interrupted her. A Los Angeles Times columnist called her answer tongue-tied.

Early on, Pratt attacked Bass over her handling of the January 2025 Pacific Palisades fires. "To the mayor, Karen Bass, the thousand firefighters that were available, but there were no engines for them because of the $17 million that Chief Crowley had asked the mayor for nine weeks before, and Mayor Karen Bass denied it," he said. He also faulted Janisse Quinones, whom Bass placed in a position at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, for draining reservoirs firefighters needed.

Pratt described Bass's actions before the fires as "the most dangerous thing that the mayor put us up against."

Raman, trailing in polls, accused Bass and Pratt of coordinating to sideline her from the general election. "You’re going to watch today as Mayor Bass and Spencer Pratt attack me because they want to run against each other in the general election," she told viewers.

"First off, Mayor Bass and I are definitely not working together," Pratt shot back. "I blame this person for burning my house and my parents' house and my town and all my neighbors down."

He argued Bass's ties to labor unions and her incumbency made her a tougher opponent than Raman, whom he called a "random council member."

On public safety, Pratt criticized Raman's past support for cutting police funding. "Councilwoman Raman keeps saying that the police department is overfunded. Public safety should be our number one priority," he said. "We're going to find all this money when we stop her useless open bed plans that actually doesn't put drug addicts in these housing that we're spending billions of dollars on, and we're going to actually start checking where this money is going."

Pratt called for boosting the Los Angeles Police Department to 12,500 officers.