Los Angeles mayoral hopeful and former reality star Spencer Pratt compared himself to President Barack Obama while defending his lack of political experience in a pair of recent interviews.
Talking about what he brings to the table during a Friday appearance on NBC Los Angeles, Pratt said, “I have two awards from my community. President Obama actually didn’t even have awards when he was a community organizer.”
“He was able to become a senator and then a president for eight years,” he went on. “So, I feel like him and I have the same experience.”
Pratt’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for further details about his honors.
The candidate, who was a mainstay on the mid-2000s MTV reality series “The Hills,” got involved with community advocacy after his home was destroyed in fires that ravaged Los Angeles County’s Pacific Palisades and Malibu enclaves in 2025.
During an interview with CBS News the day prior, he said Obama “had no experience running the whole entire country, which is way bigger than LA.”
Obama’s path from community organizer to the White House was not as simple as Pratt’s comments made it seem.
After helping set up job training and tutoring programs, as well as a tenants’ rights organization, while working on Chicago’s South Side from 1985 to 1988, Obama enrolled in Harvard Law School, where he also became the president of the prestigious Harvard Law Review.
He was elected to the Illinois Senate in 1996, a position he held until becoming a U.S. senator in 2005. During his first and only term in Congress, he clinched the Democratic presidential nomination and was elected the 44th president of the United States in 2008.
While speaking to NBC, Pratt also tried to distance himself from his television past, saying, “I’m no longer a reality star. It’s funny, I keep being called a reality star. I’m the only candidate living in reality, too.”
Pratt, a registered Republican, is one of 15 candidates competing in June’s mayoral primary alongside incumbent Karen Bass.
Though his platform has been bolstered by strong name recognition and a savvy social media campaign, his party affiliation could be one of his biggest obstacles amid his bid to lead LA. The city has not elected a Republican mayor since 1997.
While Pratt’s fellow candidate, City Councilmember Nithya Raman, accused him of being a “MAGA Republican” during a debate last Wednesday, he told NBC, “I represent all of Los Angeles. I do not represent a party. I don’t have a campaign manager. I don’t have campaign consultants. There’s no political party backing me.”