Spencer Pratt is already setting his sights on a potential November runoff after election results Tuesday night placed him comfortably in second place behind incumbent Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.
Appearing energized by the early returns, Pratt expressed confidence that his campaign has positioned itself for the next phase of the race and suggested he is preparing for a direct contest with Bass in the months ahead.
“She knows it’s on. I hope she’s ready,” Pratt told reporters Tuesday evening.
The candidate said he was thrilled by the results and optimistic about what comes next.
“I literally could not be more excited,” Pratt said. “I am ready for whatever God puts in front of me.”
Pratt noted that while he would have accepted any outcome on election night, the results left him feeling increasingly confident about his campaign’s future.
“I was going to be happy if I wasn’t moving forward, but now I feel very confident,” he said.
As ballots continued to be counted, Bass appeared headed toward a place in the November runoff, while Pratt maintained a lead over City Councilmember Nithya Raman, who remained in third place. Although a significant number of votes had yet to be processed, many political observers were increasingly viewing a Bass-Pratt matchup as the most likely outcome.
Rather than focusing on the remaining vote count, Pratt spent much of the evening discussing what he sees as an opportunity to build a governing team over the coming months.
“We have five months to put the best team the city could ever dream of,” Pratt said.
He later emphasized that his campaign already has a foundation in place and suggested that additional supporters could become more visible as the race progresses.
“We do have that team,” Pratt said. “We’ll see who is ready to come forward because retaliation is a real thing with Bass.”
Pratt also argued that a runoff campaign would provide an opportunity to showcase the breadth of support behind his candidacy, including support from Democrats.
“I think the next five months I’m going to have time to build out this team to show the level of Democratic supporters I have behind me,” he said.
Throughout a question-and-answer session with reporters, Pratt repeatedly returned to a central theme of his campaign: presenting himself as a political outsider in a city where many voters may be looking for something different from traditional elected officials.
“At the end of the day, what’s been resonating is that people just want the truth and they want to know somebody’s heart,” Pratt said.
He added that voters have responded positively to what he described as his willingness to remain authentic and straightforward.
“I try to be as true to my authentic self and I just believe a lot of Los Angeles is so excited to hear from a non-politician,” he said.
According to Pratt, many residents are seeking leaders who will actively advocate for their communities and challenge the status quo when necessary.
“They want somebody to speak the truth for their communities and fight for them,” he said. “They want a fighter that’s going to step up when the city fails them or their elected leaders fail them and I’m ready to be that person for Los Angeles.”
Pratt also pushed back against any suggestion that his campaign is primarily driven by celebrity status, insisting his mayoral bid is serious.
“I’m going to prove to everybody this is for real and I’m ready to run this city,” he said.
Before concluding, Pratt thanked supporters who helped transform his candidacy from a long-shot effort into a competitive campaign and reiterated his eagerness to face Bass in public debates.
“We can do debates every Friday if she’d like,” Pratt said. “As many debates as Mayor Bass would like.”
Ending the night with a familiar challenge directed at the incumbent mayor, Pratt repeated: “She knows it’s on. I hope she’s ready.”
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