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By Mandy Taheri
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Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt criticized Democratic Mayor Karen Bass in several posts to X on Monday over her handling of the Palisades Fire, a central issue of his campaign, while drawing comparisons to the ongoing Sandy Fire.
The Sandy blaze has spread rapidly across 1,386 acres in Ventura County, prompting evacuation orders and warnings across parts of California's Simi Valley as flames threaten homes and infrastructure.
Newsweek has reached out to Pratt and Bass for comment via email on Tuesday.
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What To Know
Pratt, who starred in MTV's The Hills and is a registered Republican running for mayor as an independent, said in a Monday X post, “While Karen Bass is worried about getting meth-heads new grills, the LAFD [Los Angeles Fire Department] has 3 dozen LESS firefighters than we had when the Palisades Fire hit. Folks, you need to vote like your life depends on it, because it does.”
He is campaigning against Bass, the first woman elected mayor of Los Angeles, on an anti-establishment platform targeting public safety, homelessness and government corruption, with the Palisades Fire and blaze mismanagement a core component of his campaign. He lost his home in that fire and has emphasized wildfire victims' advocacy in his mayoral bid.
Bass received scrutiny over her handling of the deadly Palisades Fire. About a month after the devastating wildfire of January 2025, she removed Fire Chief Kristin Crowley "in the best interests of Los Angeles' public safety." Bass and Pratt spoke about the Palisades Fire in the mayoral debate earlier this month.
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In another post, he spoke about the importance of “quick reflex time for copters to a water source,” saying, “this is what went wrong in the Palisades: Karen Bass drained our reservoir, and instead of 30 second load-and-returns, copters had to fly miles away from water, & the fire escaped.”
In a third post, he wrote, “Man, if only we had this around the Palisades. Perfect demonstration of how fuel breaks save lives. Keep in mind, the winds over the #SandyFire here are stronger than they were on the IA of the Palisades Fire, and yet…”
Last year, powerful winds fueled multiple destructive fires, including the Palisades and Eaton Fires, which swept rapidly through densely populated neighborhoods, burning roughly 40,000 acres, destroying thousands of homes and businesses, and forcing tens of thousands of residents to evacuate.
Bass has been working with the LAFD to keep residents updated on evacuation orders and safety measures related to the Sandy Fire.
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What to Know About the Sandy Fire
Authorities said the fire ignited late Monday morning near Sandy Avenue and was spreading quickly in dry, windy conditions. The cause is still under investigation.
"This is a wind-driven fire," Ventura County Fire Department Public Information Officer Andrew Dowd previously told Newsweek. "Wind-driven fires move very quickly."
As of early afternoon Tuesday, the fire is about 5 percent contained, per CAL Fire. There are over a dozen evacuation orders in place. The blaze is about 40 miles northwest of Los Angeles.
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What Polls of the Los Angeles Mayoral Race Say
A recent poll from Emerson College Polling/Inside California Politics showed 30 percent of respondents support Bass, up from 20 percent in March, while 22 percent back Pratt, a jump from 10 percent in March.
Los Angeles City Councilmember Nithya Raman came in third with 19 percent of support, and smaller numbers of respondents said they supported other candidates or were undecided, though the number of undecided respondents dropped dramatically, from 51 percent in March to 16 percent in May.
The poll was conducted May 9-10 among 1,000 likely primary voters, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent. The new poll comes a week after Bass, Pratt and Raman faced off in a mayoral debate.
An earlier UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs poll found that 40 percent of participants were undecided in the race, while Bass garnered support from 25 percent, Pratt 11 percent and Raman 9 percent.
“It is unusual for 40% of likely voters to be unsure of their choice just two months before an LA mayoralty election,” Zev Yaroslavsky, director of the Los Angeles Initiative at UCLA Luskin, said in the poll. Yaroslavsky continued, “Although Mayor Bass faces the most challenging reelection of an incumbent mayor in decades, it is highly likely that this election will be decided in a November runoff. A lot can change between now and then, so it’s a wide-open race.”
The poll of 813 likely primary voters was conducted from March 15 to March 29. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
The primary election is scheduled for June 2, with the general election set for November 3.
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