President Donald Trump said he’d like to see Spencer Pratt “do well” in the election as Los Angeles’ mayoral race heats up.
Trump, another reality-TV-star-turned-politician, offered his thoughts Wednesday when a reporter asked if he saw himself in the former “The Hills” star, who is looking to unseat incumbent Mayor Karen Bass in the upcoming election.
“He’s doing well,” Trump said before taking a shot at the state and its “rigged vote.”
Trump also cast Pratt as a “character.”
The endorsement piles on to what originally began as a sleepy race up for grabs to a wide playing field that’s now heating up among the frontrunners with mail-in voting underway ahead of the June 2 primary.
A spokesperson for Pratt did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday on the president’s remarks.
Someone who did respond right away to Trump’s commentary was 4th District Council Member Nithya Raman, who is also vying for the mayoral seat.
Raman’s camp was quick to tell supporters on Wednesday that Trump had just “anointed Spencer Pratt his choice for mayor of Los Angeles,” making him his “MAGA apprentice.”
An Emerson College Polling primary survey from May 9 to May 10 showed Bass maintaining her lead among the frontrunners. The incumbent nabbed another 10 points from Emerson’s last primary election survey conducted between March 7 to March 9, with 30 percent support.
Pratt and Raman are nearly tied with 22 percent and 19 percent, respectively, in this month’s poll.
The survey results would support what many see as an all but certain path to a November runoff. A winner would only emerge in the June primary if they pulled in more than 50 percent of the vote, casting Pratt and Raman as the hopefuls looking to topple Bass in the general election.
If funding means anything, Bass continues to pull ahead, having raised over $2 million since candidates last had to report campaign contributions raised between Jan. 1 and April 18, according to a review Wednesday of Los Angeles City Ethics Commission filings.
Meanwhile, Pratt’s campaign reported over $967,000 in contributions that have come in since the last filing period, while Raman’s brought in close to $263,000.
Tech entrepreneur Adam Miller, who had about 7 percent support in this month’s Emerson poll, pooled over $1.5 million in contributions since April 18 with the lion’s share self-funded.
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