CARPINTERIA, Calif. — Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt has acknowledged living in Santa Barbara County after his home was destroyed in the Palisades fire last year, raising questions about his eligibility in the city’s June 2 primary election.
Candidates running for city office were required to be registered to vote in L.A. and to be residents of the city by Jan. 3 in order to be eligible, according to the city clerk’s office.
“I think this brings up the question as to whether Spencer Pratt can satisfy the residency requirement required under the charter to be elected mayor,” said Jessica Levinson, professor of law at Loyola Marymount University.
Pratt and his campaign staff didn’t respond to repeated inquiries from The Times since last week over his residency.
On Monday, Pratt posted a video on Xacknowledging that he has been living at his father’s rental home in Carpinteria, about 12 miles south of Santa Barbara, since losing his home in the Palisades fire.
“I wasn’t thinking, ‘I really need to make sure I stay in this ZIP Code in case I run for mayor,’” Pratt said in the video.
Pratt added that his burned-out lot is still his legal residence and that he recently moved an Airstream trailer to the Palisades lot where he now plans to live.
Pratt and his wife, the reality star and singer Heidi Pratt, both listed a Carpinteria address linked to Pratt’s parents on voter registrations. Pratt listed it as his mailing address, while Heidi listed it as her mailing address and residence.
“We see him frequently. Every month or every other week,” said Samantha Smith, the manager of Delgado’s Mexican Restaurant, which is half a mile from Pratt’s parents’ house.
Pratt goes to the restaurant often enough that Smith said his favorite order is crispy tacos and guacamole, and that he prefers the tequila brand Komos.
Other customers at the Carpinteria restaurant approach Pratt sometimes and congratulate him on his run for mayor in Los Angeles.
“We’re excited for him,” Smith said.
Pratt is a registered Republican and former reality television star made famous by his role on “The Hills.” Since losing his home in the Palisades fire, he has grown his social media fame as a frequent detractor of Mayor Karen Bass and Gov. Gavin Newsom’s management of the blaze and its aftermath. He announced his run for mayor on the first anniversary of the fire.
A poll by the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs released last week had Pratt in second place behind Bass in the primary election, with 40% of voters still undecided. The top two vote-getters in the primary will compete in the Nov. 3 general election unless one candidate wins a majority in June.
Campaign aides to Bass and Los Angeles City Councilmember and mayoral candidate Nithya Raman, who placed third in the UCLA poll, declined to comment.
Loyola Marymount’s Levinson said that rival campaigns might be hesitant to file a suit challenging Pratt’s eligibility.
“This is a political question: Would it look like you’re beating up on somebody who lost their home in a fire?” she asked.
Even so, Pratt’s decision to live outside of Los Angeles represents a disconnect with his campaign platform, which has criticized the city’s response to the fire, said Maryam Zar, the founder and president of the Palisades Recovery Coalition.
“He is drawing on this sense of urgency to rebuild. If you’re not here and not urgently trying to come back, it sort of detracts from that messaging,” said Zar, who briefly flirted with the idea of running for mayor herself.
The Los Angeles city clerk declined to provide information on Pratt’s residence, saying that candidates’ addresses are confirmed when they file, but can remain confidential.
Voter data records provided to The Times by the political data firm PDI showed that Pratt listed his Palisades address as his residence, but a beachside Carpinteria address as his mailing address. Santa Barbara real estate records show the house was owned by Pratt’s father.
Michael Sanchez, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles County registrar-recorder/county clerk, said that Heidi Pratt was registered to vote in Santa Barbara County.
The records lined up with statements the Pratts have made to the media.
Following the fires, they told outlets that the family had moved closer to Santa Barbara.
“Santa Barbara is very cool,” Spencer Pratt told Parade in June.
Heidi Pratt told the Independent in May that the family was living in a rental home in Santa Barbara.
Los Angeles has dealt with similar residency issues before.
Former L.A. City Councilmember Richard Alarcon was charged and convicted of perjury and voter fraud for representing a district in the San Fernando Valley that he did not live in.
During the trial, Alarcon argued he was staying in a home five miles from his district because he was renovating his in-district home, which he considered his permanent residence.
An appeals court eventually overturned his conviction in 2016.
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