Reality TV star turned Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt just filed a formal election law complaint against Mayor Karen Bass after video surfaced showing her campaign apparently violating California's electioneering restrictions near ballot drop boxes. When a guy best known for "The Hills" is your city's top election watchdog, your government has already failed.
Let that marinate. The man who made a career out of manufactured drama on MTV is now filing legal complaints that actual prosecutors should have been handling. Meanwhile, the entire California Democratic establishment can't be bothered to enforce its own election laws. Shocking.
Here's what happened. On May 25, Bass posted a campaign video to X featuring campaign signs, a baby decked out in "Babies for Bass" gear, and — here's the fun part — a ballot drop box. "You can drop off your ballot at voting centers and drop boxes throughout the city. Voting early is easy, even Babies for Bass agree!" Bass chirped in the post. Cute. Also potentially illegal.
California Election Code Section 319.5 prohibits electioneering within 100 feet of a ballot drop box. That's not some obscure regulation Bob dug out of a dusty law library — it's published guidance from the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder. Bass's campaign spokesperson Alex Stack tried the lamest defense imaginable, claiming the campaign sign and the drop-box footage were "filmed at separate locations roughly 200 feet apart." Sure they were, Alex. And I'm sure the editing that stitched them together into one seamless campaign ad was just a happy accident.
Pratt wasn't having it. "Karen Bass just violated election law here... We just filed a formal complaint for illegally gaming the election," he posted on X on May 26. His attorney, Peter McNulty, filed the complaint with the Los Angeles City Clerk's office. That would be the same City Clerk, Patrice Lattimore, who was appointed by Bass herself back in September 2025. We're sure she'll investigate this with the utmost impartiality.
The timing is perfect. The June 2 primary is one week away, and the latest polling has Bass at 30%, Pratt at 22%, and City Councilmember Nithya Raman at 19%, with 16% still undecided. Pratt isn't just some celebrity vanity candidate — he lost his home in the devastating LA fires and has been one of the most vocal Bass critics in the city. He's channeling real anger from real people who watched their neighborhoods burn while Bass played politics.
And because Pratt apparently woke up that morning and chose maximum chaos, he's also been trolling Democrats with a campaign promise to "keep ICE out of LA" — throwing their own sanctuary city rhetoric right back in their faces. It's the kind of political judo that makes consultants pull their hair out and makes voters laugh.
Here's what we know for certain: video evidence exists, a formal complaint has been filed under a specific California statute, and the best response the Bass campaign can muster is "those were two different locations, trust us." According to 100 Percent Fed Up, which broke down the complaint details, the evidence is straightforward — campaign material and a drop box in the same video, well within what appears to be the 100-foot restriction zone.
When Spencer Pratt is running circles around your legal team, maybe it's time to update your campaign's compliance handbook. Or, you know, just follow the law.