Billionaire Jeanie Buss, governor of the Los Angeles Lakers, has donated the maximum amount to reality television star Spencer Pratt in his bid to unseat Karen Bass as Mayor of Los Angeles.
Buss reportedly gave the full $1,800 to Pratt’s campaign, a donation that “came to light through a circulating report shared online, highlighting Buss’ support as Pratt continues to build momentum in an increasingly competitive race,” per Clutch Points.
Pratt’s campaign has quietly gained traction. Recent figures show he raised close to $540,000 since January, narrowly edging out Nithya Raman, who brought in about $530,000 during the same stretch. Incumbent Karen Bass trailed slightly in new fundraising with roughly $495,000.
Despite that, Bass still holds a commanding financial advantage overall. Her campaign has built a war chest of approximately $2.3 million over the past two years, giving her a strong foundation as the race progresses.
Buss has neither officially endorsed Pratt nor addressed the donation to his campaign in a statement on her social media platforms.
A recent study found that a majority of Los Angeles (L.A.) residents are “less satisfied” with their quality of life as the mayoral election looms. Surveying 1,400 L.A. County residents between March 15-29 with a 2.6 percent margin of error, the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs study showed that Angelenos are overall “less satisfied” with their quality of life.
“The overall index dropped to a historic low of 52, with six of the nine categories that comprise the index also falling to their lowest levels on record,” it noted. “Education, transportation/traffic, and cost of living saw the steepest declines, reinforcing the ongoing strain of affordability and infrastructure challenges.”
The top issues centered on fears of deportation (31 percent), followed by income loss due to the historic wildfires (26 percent), with an overall dissatisfaction with the wildfire relief efforts (56 percent) under Democrat Mayor Karen Bass.
“Los Angeles County residents’ rating of their quality of life has been in decline since the peak of the COVID pandemic,” said Zev Yaroslavsky, director of the Los Angeles Initiative at UCLA Luskin. “We’ve been through a lot in the last five years. COVID, increases in the cost of living, immigration sweeps, and the Altadena and Palisades fires have taken their toll on virtually every aspect of our lives.”
“Despite the challenges county residents have faced, when asked if they were generally optimistic or pessimistic about their own economic future in Los Angeles County, a majority of survey respondents (53%) said they were optimistic,” Yaroslavsky added.