Spencer Pratt’s campaign for mayor of Los Angeles ended with a losing third-place finish in the nonpartisan primary earlier this month.
His campaign was confined to social media, which meant it probably drew energy mostly from people who don’t vote in Los Angeles. It also connected with President Donald Trump and his MAGA supporters in ways that were predictably noxious to many LA voters. I went to a Pratt open house the Sunday before the election and found a small crowd. He left without addressing it.
I was skeptical he could make an effective mayor, and I never thought he could win the citywide election in November.
But Angelenos may miss him because, I thought, he did one crucial thing well: He changed the conversation surrounding the complex tangle of homelessness, addiction, mental illness, methamphetamine, and fentanyl.
He aired it out. He spoke frankly about a reality that most Angelenos knew to be true.
I thought this was why his campaign gained traction.
Los Angeles has talked about homelessness in one way for so long.
