Harvey Levin’s latest project: Spencer Pratt for LA mayor

LOS ANGELES — Harvey Levin is a lot of things.

Is California political kingmaker one of them?

An answer to that question may be rendered in Tuesday’s mayoral primary in Los Angeles. A top-two finish for Spencer Pratt — whose campaign Levin has increasingly promoted in recent weeks — would bolster the TMZ founder’s political ascendancy in the state at the same time his gossip outlet has expanded its sharp-elbowed celebrity coverage to Washington’s corridors of power.

Levin is not new to politics, having previously backed Donald Trump in 2016. But his role in Pratt’s rise may represent something distinct from his earlier dalliance with Trump-era politics, in part because TMZ, which launched in Washington in April, now regularly applies its tabloid treatment — though with seemingly less penetration — to the political power set.

“This could be something more substantial and durable — and it may be intentional,” said David J. Jackson, author of “Entertainment and Politics: The Influence of Pop Culture on Young Adult Political Socialization.” “People should not dismiss celebrity-focused content, because there’s research that shows the celebrity framing of politics … does actually, in some cases, attract audiences who would typically be inattentive to politics.”

Indeed, the convergence of celebrity and outrage has created fertile ground for Pratt’s improbable, insurgent candidacy. A Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll Thursday showed a tight three-way race among likely voters: Mayor Karen Bass at 26 percent, City Councilmember Nithya Raman at 25 percent and Pratt at 22 percent.

Pratt’s guerrilla campaign materialized this spring amid an avalanche of anger over Bass’ handling of twin crises — Los Angeles’ entrenched homelessness problem and the 2025 wildfires. The latter issue catapulted Pratt, a social media-savvy Republican whose home burned down in the Palisades fire, into the political limelight even before he announced his candidacy in January.

TMZ’s relentless coverage of Pratt — it published three stories about him on Wednesday and two the previous day — is hardly an outlier. The California Post, the Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid that launched in January, has also championed the former reality TV star, endorsing him with a cover story last week.

Pratt, 42, whose ascent has been at least partly fueled by over-the-top viral AI videos depicting him as a superhero taking on villainous opponents, has also drawn praise from some of the biggest voices on the American right. Trump said he’d like Pratt to “do well,” while Joe Rogan has offered a full-throated endorsement.

For Levin — who has voiced some skepticism about Pratt’s tactics — the moment represents a return to overt political influence after years focused primarily on celebrity coverage. Levin’s political ambitions long predate Trump: He explored launching a Washington-based “gossip venture” in 2007, though the idea was ultimately scuttled, Bloomberg has reported.

While backing Trump in 2016, Levin turned TMZ into what Talking Points Memo called a “pro-Trump propaganda machine.” That year, Levin hosted a one-hour special with Trump on Fox News that he parlayed into his show “Objectified,” in which he interviewed celebrities about their prized possessions. It ran for two seasons starting in 2017. At the time, according to Bloomberg, TMZ staffers were made to understand that Trump-related controversies were off-limits.

But, as The New Yorker reported in April, Levin, who had visited Trump in the White House shortly after his first term began, had a falling out with the president in 2018 over the administration’s position on transgender people serving in the military.

Levin’s “reentry” into politics, partly via Pratt, “makes sense because of Pratt's own professional origins" in entertainment, said Michael Serazio, a professor of communication at Boston College and author of “The Authenticity Industries: Keeping it ‘Real’ in Media, Culture, and Politics.”

Levin, he said, “is a player in the entertainment space first and foremost … The allegiance is more to an audience’s eyeballs, grabbing attention.”

The Pratt campaign did not respond to a request for comment. Nor did Levin or TMZ, which is owned by Murdoch's Fox Entertainment.

While TMZ has provided Pratt — who is seeking elected office for the first time — with invaluable earned media in recent weeks, not everyone is sure Levin deserves recognition for the candidate’s rise. “I'm reticent to give anyone credit other than Spencer and his very small team,” said Roxanne Hoge, chairperson of the Republican Party of Los Angeles County.

“It certainly appears that he’s got Harvey’s vote,” she said. “But the question is, what does that do?”

Hoge noted that Levin’s support for Pratt has come later in the campaign: “Getting out in front of a parade that's already happening is different from starting the parade and building the float.”

Pratt faces headwinds, even if he does advance past the primary. In Los Angeles County, Republicans make up less than 20 percent of registered voters. And although he has garnered support from some boldfaced names, among them Jeanie Buss, many in Hollywood are deeply skeptical of Pratt. On Wednesday, for example, Jimmy Kimmel used his namesake late-night show’s monologue to skewer the candidate as a “moderately famous person” and “a narcissist looking for attention” who doesn’t have solutions to the city’s problems. “It’s exactly what Donald Trump did,” Kimmel said of Pratt’s campaign.

Still, like Trump, Pratt is benefitting from the attention in a fragmented media landscape. Erin Meyers, author of “Extraordinarily Ordinary: The Rise of Reality Television Celebrity,” said that if Pratt “wins or finishes second, that’s … definitely going to make people think about the range of places that people are getting information.”

Whether Levin, 75, and TMZ have “actual political power will be something to come out of this moment,” said Meyers, a professor of communication at Oakland University.

There appears to be little downside risk to TMZ’s broad coverage of Pratt. If he fails to place in the top two on Tuesday, it won’t “undo” Levin’s ability to “draw attention to certain people” in the gossip space, Meyers said.

“Like the other gossip magazines, he seems to be on the outside of the machinery that makes stars,” she said. “So he can keep this outsider status, even if it doesn’t work out.”

Levin recently offered an oddly specific primary prediction: Pratt would garner 38 percent of the vote on Tuesday — much higher than his Berkeley polling number. Speaking on an episode of his “2 Angry Men” podcast, the lawyer-turned-media personality also forecasted that Pratt would face off against Bass in the November election.

Then, as he contemplated whether the mayor would agree to debate Pratt ahead of the general election, Levin shared another take: “I think if she does, he will kick her ass.”

This reporting first appeared in California Playbook. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every weekday.