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Spencer Pratt has confidently claimed he’s already looking ahead to a November runoff as election results Tuesday night showed him comfortably in second place behind incumbent mayor Karen Bass.
“She knows it’s on. I hope she’s ready,” Pratt said on Tuesday. “I literally could not be more excited.”
“I am ready for whatever God puts in front of me,” he said.
“I was going to be happy if I wasn’t moving forward, but now I feel very confident.”
Pratt said the coming months will allow him to continue building a team capable of governing Los Angeles.
“We have five months to put the best team the city could ever dream of,” Pratt said.
Pratt’s bullish comments came as Bass advanced to the November runoff while Pratt held second place ahead of socialist City Councilmember Nithya Raman in third.
While a large number of ballots remain to be counted, political observers increasingly view a Bass-Pratt matchup as the most likely outcome.
Pratt told reporters he entered election night prepared for any result.
“We do have that team. We’ll see who is ready to come forward because retaliation is a real thing with Bass.”
Pratt also said a potential runoff campaign would give him an opportunity to demonstrate the amount of support behind his candidacy.
“I think the next five months I’m going to have time to build out this team to show the level of Democratic supporters I have behind me,” he said.
Throughout the question-and-answer session, Pratt argued that voters have responded to his outsider message.
“At the end of the day what’s been resonating is that people just want the truth and they want to know somebody’s heart,” Pratt said.
“I try to be as true to my authentic self and I just believe a lot of Los Angeles is so excited to hear from a non-politician.”
Pratt said voters are looking for someone willing to fight for their communities.
“They want somebody to speak the truth for their communities and fight for them,” he said. “They want a fighter that’s going to step up when the city fails them or their elected leaders fail them and I’m ready to be that person for Los Angeles.”
Pratt also sought to reinforce that his mayoral bid is serious and not simply a celebrity campaign. “I’m going to prove to everybody this is for real and I’m ready to run this city,” he said.
He also thanked supporters who helped propel his campaign from a long-shot candidacy into a serious contender.
“Thank you for everybody who fights for me in the comments section, people all over the United States who used to live in LA,” Pratt said.
Pratt took one final jab at Raman, who remained in third place in the early returns and had not conceded Tuesday night.
“The communist already lost,” Pratt said.
As election officials continued counting ballots, Pratt made clear he was already looking ahead to the months ahead and a potential showdown with Bass.
“We can do debates every Friday if she’d like,” Pratt repeated. “As many debates as Mayor Bass would like.”
“She knows it’s on. I hope she’s ready.”
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