\n\tThe star of a long-running reality show is looking poised for a fresh episode in the Los Angeles mayoral race.<\/p>\n
With about half the votes counted, The Hills star-turned-political gadfly Spencer Pratt<\/a> sat comfortably in second place with 30% of the vote, ahead of his third-place rival, progressive City Council member Nithya Raman<\/a>, by nine points. If the totals were to hold \u2014 and a lot of ballots still need to be counted \u2014 it would set up a made-for-vintage-MTV showdown between Pratt and incumbent Karen Bass<\/a>, who sits in first place with 37%.<\/p>\n \n\tThe general election<\/a> battle between the two would be one of the fiercest and most colorful the city has seen in decades. Pratt has repeatedly gone after Bass in the primary campaign, reposting videos of her depicted as The Joker and deriding her response to the wildfires, homelessness and the city\u2019s housing crisis. After previously ignoring hm, Bass has recently gone after Pratt too,\u00a0calling him\u00a0<\/a>a \u201cTV reality star villain.\u201d Pratt has received the seal of approval of another reality star-turned-politician, Donald Trump, though\u00a0rebuffed<\/a>\u00a0the endorsement.<\/p>\n The primary race is far from over, however. Later ballots tend to skew Democratic, and if Raman were even within striking distance by midnight Tuesday she could pull past Pratt when all is said and done.\u00a0<\/p>\n If Raman were to go down it would be a rebuff for progressives in the city, though it would also stir up some Monday-morning quarterbacking about the decision of\u00a0Rae Huang, a Democratic Socialist of America candidate, to stay in the race and siphon votes from Raman, giving Pratt the two-spot. It is all but impossible for Bass to surge past 50%, which she would need to avoid a runoff.<\/p>\n Despite Pratt\u2019s entertainment bona fides, it was Bass who sought to position herself as the candidate of Hollywood in her speech to supporters Tuesday night. She called L.A. \u201cthe creative capital of the world\u2019 and decried an \u201cindustry that was leaving but we are bringing it back.\u201d<\/p>\n Pratt, for his part, has kept Hollywood or at least the media at bay \u2014 he appeared to ban them from covering his election-night party at Don Antonio\u2019s in Sawtelle, according to two people on the ground,\u00a0in contravention of longstanding election-night practice but\u00a0in keeping with his anti-elites theme.<\/p>\n In the California governor\u2019s race, another critic of Democratic incumbents has turned out a strong showing. Former Fox News host Steve Hilton<\/a> \u2014 like Pratt a TV figure who has never run for elected office \u2014 had inched into the lead with about half the ballots counted, just one point ahead of Democrat Xavier Becerra<\/a> and a full seven points ahead of progressive Democrat Tom Steyer<\/a>. <\/p>\n \n\tShould results hold, it would set up a general election between the moderate Democrat and former California AG Becerra, an establishment candidate, and the British Hilton, the political upstart who also has Trump\u2019s endorsement. \u00a0<\/p>\n