Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt hit back at a news reporter when he was asked if his campaign has been a power trip in order to promote his own self-image and personal brand, saying that he and his family have to have constant security with them because of death threats.

Pratt was being interviewed by NBC anchor Tom Llamas, who asked him, “After June 2nd, you’re gonna have to win a majority of those votes. What about people that might say, is this just about self-promotion? Is this just about to get your brand, and man, your brand is hot right now. It’s probably hotter than ever right now. How do you convince those people that you say, no, I really want this job. I want to change the city?”

“Everything I’ve ever worked for burned in my house. Everything my parents ever worked for burned in their house. I got on this mission. It was never to run for mayor. I started this to expose the corruption and the negligence of our city leaders, and when I got to the farthest distance I could where I proved they were obstructing justice, altering after-action reports after the fire, and there was nothing more they could do, that’s when I organically got in the race because no one else was going to run,” Pratt responded.

“I was never going to be the mayor, but nobody was going to run against her that could beat her. I had to step into this. Again, running for mayor is not fun. Let’s be clear. I have to have 24-hour security with the amount of death threats. My kid now has to have his security next to him when he goes in the ocean because psychos come to the beach to, this is not like, ‘oh, I get to be on a new show. I’m like, oh, I’m Tom Cruise, I’m in Top Gun 3 with Miles Teller.’ This is not fun fighting DSA socialists in the city of LA. So, anybody that really is paying attention, politics is not fun. And, and now I’m deep in politics fighting a machine that is against the truth.”

Pratt, a political outsider and former reality TV star, has been making waves in the LA mayoral race in an attempt to unseat LA Mayor Karen Bass, a Democrat. In addition to Pratt and Bass, LA County Councilmember Nithya Raman, otherwise known as the LA “Mamdani,” is also running for mayor.

Pratt has been able to take advantage of AI and social media in unconventional ways to drive his campaign with viral advertisements.