Spencer Pratt, 42, has no prior political experience but is running for mayor of Los Angeles, the second-largest city in the United States. He told CBS News’ Adam Yamaguchi that his campaign is built on a “common sense” approach that he believes will resonate with voters. “I don’t do the politician talk, and I think it’s refreshing to people to hear somebody speak from the heart, be authentic,” Pratt said.

Undecided Voters and Criticism of Current Leadership

When asked about a recent UCLA poll showing 40% of voters are still undecided, Pratt said those results indicate Los Angeles is ready to vote out the current mayor. Pratt was among the celebrities who responded to the Palisades Fire. He stated that he doesn’t rely on polling numbers because he doesn’t think his voters are picking up calls from pollsters. Instead, he said, “What it shows is that Mayor Bass has the worst record in LA history.”

Debates and Changing Public Perception

Pratt, along with current Mayor Karen Bass and Los Angeles City Councilmember, faced off in a heated debate earlier this week. Pratt, who first made a name for himself as the resident villain on MTV’s “The Hills,” said the forum has allowed people to see him in a new light. He explained, “People know when I was a reality villain, I was doing it to get paid. It was strategic. I was working with producers.” He added, “I’m being very strategic to win and save LA, but there’s no strategy when you’re standing in an Airstream on your burned out town. You can’t fake that.”

Pratt also compared himself to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who upset former Governor Andrew Cuomo to become the leader of the largest city in the country. Like Mamdani, Pratt has promised change, though they differ on policies. “The one thing I connect with is I know he promised his voters (buses) will be free, and I’m promising my voters the metro, Metro buses, the Metro trains, they will be free from urine, feces, stabbing, attacks,” Pratt said. “So that’s kind of similar. We both had free things for public transportation.” He continued, “But you know, I think he connected with people because they felt like change. They wanted change. That message would never connect here because we’ve already been doing the socialist experiment pretty much for six plus years, and it’s failed here in Los Angeles. So I think my message is, why it’s resonating on social media, is it’s the truth. It’s authentic. It’s from my heart. I didn’t want to be a politician. I’m standing in what happened because of failed politicians. That’s why I’m here.”

Comparisons to Barack Obama and the Election Timeline

“When people have passion and they care and they have common sense and they have humility to know ‘I don’t know everything,’ but what I do know is all these very smart, successful people in Los Angeles want to get around me, get behind me, and make sure that LA is the number-one city in the world,” Pratt said. Pratt also compared himself to former President Barack Obama, noting that Obama was a “community organizer” before his Senate term and had “no experience running the whole entire country” before his presidential bid.

The Los Angeles mayoral election will take place on June 2. If no candidate receives a majority of the vote, then the two leading candidates will advance to a runoff on Nov. 3. Watch the full interview with Pratt above.