Bass Campaign Reaches for Trump Card Against Surging Pratt in LA Mayor’s Race

When you’ve spent $418 million on homelessness and only managed to get 10% of people off the streets, you know desperation is setting in. That’s exactly where Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass finds herself as Tuesday’s primary election looms and a former reality TV star is breathing down her neck in the polls.

Bass spent her Saturday at Yosemite Recreation Center in Eagle Rock, serving tacos while wearing an apron that read “Common Sense and Carne Asada.” The optics are almost too perfect, aren’t they? A Democratic mayor backed by Kamala Harris and Gavin Newsom trying to convince voters she’s just a regular person who understands their struggles. Never mind that those struggles have only deepened under her watch.

But the real story came during an Instagram livestream when Bass decided to play what she clearly thought was her trump card, if you’ll pardon the expression. “You have a failed reality TV star who wants to be famous,” she said, before adding the kicker. “We know what it means if you put somebody who is a reality TV star in a seat of power.” The implication was obvious. She was comparing Spencer Pratt to Donald Trump.

It’s the kind of lazy political shorthand that Democrats have relied on for years now. Can’t defend your record? Just invoke Trump’s name and hope your base gets activated. The problem is that Los Angeles residents can see their city crumbling around them. They can see the encampments. They can see the crime. They watched their city burn during the January wildfires while Bass was conveniently out of town.

Pratt, best known from “The Hills,” has turned into an unlikely populist champion. He’s not mincing words about the corruption he sees in city hall. He’s talking about abused dogs on Skid Row and making the city safe for mothers and children. It’s visceral stuff, grounded in faith and frustration that plenty of Angelenos share.

The polling shows this race heading toward a runoff, with no candidate expected to clear 50% on Tuesday. City council member Nithya Raman is also in the mix, recently posting an Instagram video acknowledging that despite “millions of dollars of spending against us, we are still here and we are still competitive.”

Here’s what Bass and her high-profile Democratic backers don’t seem to understand. When you’ve failed this spectacularly at basic governance, comparing your opponent to Trump doesn’t make you look principled. It makes you look panicked. Los Angeles doesn’t need another politician who’s mastered the art of deflection. The city needs someone willing to confront the bureaucratic mess that Bass herself blamed for her broken homelessness promises.

The numbers don’t lie. Four hundred eighteen million dollars. Ten percent success rate. That’s not governance. That’s malpractice dressed up in progressive rhetoric and carne asada photo ops. Whether Pratt is the answer remains to be seen, but the fact that he’s competitive tells you everything about how fed up voters are with business as usual.

Bass can keep invoking Trump if she wants. Meanwhile, regular people in Los Angeles are watching their quality of life deteriorate and wondering why they should trust the same leadership that got them into this mess. Sometimes the most radical thing you can do is demand accountability from the people already in power.

Related: California’s Voter Roll Mess Just Got a Number and It’s Nearly a Million