Spencer Pratt shows Democratic cities won’t change
Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt-backed as a change-minded, more right-leaning alternative-did not manage to move past the primary, underscoring the recurring pattern in major Democratic “blue” cities of expressing dissatisfaction with progressive leadership but ultimately sticking with it in subsequent elections.
The piece compares recent outcomes across cities: Chicago replaced longtime incumbent Lori Lightfoot but then elected progressive Brandon Johnson; New York City ousted scandal-plagued Eric Adams and turned to socialist Zohran Mamdani; Boston re-elected progressive Michelle Wu overwhelmingly. It notes an exception in San Francisco’s 2024 election of centrist Daniel Lurie over progressive London Breed, along with evidence that Lurie’s more centrist approach resonated with San Francisco voters.
In Los Angeles specifically, the author points to how sentiment toward candidates has not translated into sufficient votes for Pratt, despite viral attention centered on issues like crime, drugs, and homelessness. They also argue the slow pace of vote counting reduced confidence in the results as Pratt’s standing changed late, and they suggest that Republican or GOP-aligned candidates in deep-blue cities face an especially tough environment in 2026.
the article contrasts the moment with the early 1990s, when Los Angeles and New York City were willing to elect Republican mayors Richard Riordan and Rudy Giuliani-implying that such a shift required a different national political climate. it concludes that Pratt is another example of a high-profile “anti-progressive” campaign failing to produce real electoral change.
Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt missing out on the general election is the latest example of voters in a large, Democrat-run city flirting with change but then opting to maintain the status quo.
This isn’t even the first time this has happened in Los Angeles. Mayor Karen Bass was elected four years ago over wealthy developer Rick Caruso, who had campaigned against Democratic misgovernment of the city.
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Caruso did, however, finish second in the first round of voting and made it to the November election, ultimately winning 45.2% of the vote to Bass’s 54.8% in a two-way race. Despite considerably more hype, Pratt fell short of Caruso on both counts.
Chicago voters ousted embattled Mayor Lori Lightfoot in 2023, making her the first incumbent mayor to be defeated in the city in 40 years. But in the runoff, Chicagoans rejected centrist, law-and-order former CEO of Chicago Public Schools Paul Vallas and instead elected progressive Brandon Johnson. As mayor, Johnson has arguably governed to the left of Lightfoot.
In New York City just last year, voters turned out the scandal-plagued Mayor Eric Adams, who left the Democratic Party and attempted to seek reelection as an independent after polls suggested he had little chance of winning the primary. The city then elected socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who ran to the left of Adams and defeated former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in both the Democratic primary and the general election.
Progressive Boston Mayor Michelle Wu easily dispatched Josh Kraft in the first round of voting last year. She faced only token opposition in the general election and won reelection with more than 90% of the vote, a Kim Jong Un-style margin of victory.
There is a solid chance that the next mayor of Washington, D.C., will be to the left of incumbent Mayor Muriel Bowser, who has forged a fairly constructive working relationship with President Donald Trump in the federal district.
The big outlier was San Francisco’s election of Daniel Lurie, a centrist Democrat concerned about rampant homelessness and drug overdoses, over progressive incumbent London Breed in 2024. Lurie’s San Francisco and Bass’s Los Angeles have since gone in opposite directions on major quality-of-life metrics. Lurie’s positions largely carried the day in this month’s elections.
“‘We’re living in Daniel Lurie’s America,’ and most San Franciscans are content,” read the headline in Mission Local, a San Francisco-based nonprofit news outlet.
Yet Los Angeles will either reelect Bass or choose someone to her left now that progressive Councilwoman Nithya Raman is advancing instead of Pratt.
The slow pace of vote counting in Los Angeles and elsewhere in California has undermined confidence in the election, especially as it took days for Raman to pull ahead of Pratt. The morning after the primary, Pratt looked like a shoo-in to advance.
But 2026 is not shaping up to be a great year for Republicans or seemingly GOP-aligned candidates to try to win elections in deep-blue cities. Pratt’s vote share in the three-way race is similar to Trump’s in Los Angeles in 2024.
Pratt, a former reality TV star, focused relentlessly on crime, drugs, homelessness, and mismanagement of the city. His ads and debate performance went viral. Even many Democrats were impressed by his campaign.
It did not translate into enough votes to advance, especially with many Democrats hanging back and making late decisions about whom to vote for in the crowded gubernatorial primary. Democrats widely regarded the field as lackluster.
But in 1993, things got bad enough that Los Angeles and New York City were willing to elect Republican mayors, Richard Riordan and Rudy Giuliani, respectively. Both Riordan and Giuliani served two terms.
Their initial elections preceded a big Republican wave year in 1994, which ushered in the first GOP House majority in 40 years. It was certainly a better national climate in which to be a Republican, even in Democratic areas.
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Could things ever get bad enough in a big, Democrat-run city for one to elect a mayor like Giuliani again? Pratt supporters thought they had matched a man to the moment. But he has ended up being another disappointment, more closely resembling William F. Buckley Jr.’s 1965 novelty candidacy for New York City mayor than Giuliani or Riordan. (Though in Buckley’s case, he said he’d only demand a recount if he somehow won.)
Pratt is now part of a national pattern of city residents expressing disenchantment with progressive governance but then voting for it to continue.
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