There’s a race happening right now in Los Angeles that every political strategist and communications professional should be paying close attention to — not because of who’s running, but because of how they’re running.
Spencer Pratt — who you may remember from the MTV reality show The Hills — is running for Mayor of Los Angeles. And whatever you think of him personally, his campaign is a masterclass in modern political communication.
Some background: He lost his home in the Palisades fires. Instead of going quiet, he went loud — on social media, on podcasts, in debates. He turned personal loss into public purpose. And he did it without a massive paid media budget.
Here’s what he’s doing really well. His message isn’t complicated: the people in charge don’t care about you. He points to incumbent Karen Bass — her response to the fires, the city’s billion-dollar budget crisis, scrutiny over how the city’s emergency funds were used — and elevates the critique beyond policy failure to a question of character. But he has receipts and drives his message with specific examples.
And critically — he doesn’t make it overly about himself. His story is part of the narrative, not the whole thing. He’s not complaining. He’s standing next to everyday Angelenos and saying: I’m one of you, I’m fighting for you, and we can change this. That’s a fundamentally different posture.
Los Angeles uses a nonpartisan jungle primary — so Pratt doesn’t need to win outright. He needs to stay in the conversation. Right now, he’s doing more than that; he’s driving it.
He’s appeared on the Joe Rogan Experience — one of the most listened-to podcasts in the world. He sat down with Adam Carolla, who endorsed him. He’s generating earned media and viral social content at a fraction of what a traditional TV ad buy would cost.
This is what modern campaigning looks like.
This isn’t just a campaign story. Any organization operating under public scrutiny — a trade association, a university, a regulated company — faces the same choice Pratt made. You can try to buy your way into the conversation, or you can build credibility through consistent, authentic content that earns attention over time.
Whether Spencer Pratt wins or not, his campaign has already proven something. Earned Over Paid. When authenticity is the strategy, you don’t buy credibility — you build it. The organizations that figure that out first won’t just win campaigns — they’ll own the conversation.
