A union-sponsored ‘attack ad’ against Pratt appears to be aimed at helping him win, analysts say.

A 30-second campaign video spot making the rounds this week claims to be against Spencer Pratt in the June 2 primary for Los Angeles Mayor. But to many observers, Pratt’s list of criticisms seems like a list of his selling points to LA’s Republican voters.

Pratt wants to add more police officers, curb the power of public sector unions and spend less money on brand new housing for the homeless, the ad said. All of this appears to be aimed at boosting Pratt’s appeal to conservative voters, political analysts say — a strategy they think is intended to help Republican Pratt, not progressive City Councilwoman Nithya Raman, make it to Nov. 3 to run with Mayor Karen Bass.

The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, which supports Bass, spent $221,000 on the ad, according to a filing with the city’s Ethics Commission.

“The Fed wants an easy way for Bass to go, which would be against Pratt instead of Nithya Raman because only 18% of registered voters in LA are Republicans,” said Fernando Guerra, professor of political science at Loyola Marymount University.

In a non-partisan race where all candidates are polling below 30%, Pratt’s majority of Republican votes could be the push he needs to get past Raman, who polled neck-and-neck with him, Guerra said.

In a statement, the labor coalition criticized Pratt as a potential candidate, but did not respond when asked if the new ad was intended to boost Pratt’s appeal to Republicans in the nonpartisan race.

“Pratt’s half-baked views are dangerous to working-class Angelenos and outside the city’s most vulnerable citizens. It’s important that voters in Los Angeles are reminded of the dangers of electing another clueless reality TV star,” said Kristal Romero, a spokeswoman for the labor group.

Raman called the video from the labor coalition “obscene,” saying it appeared to encourage Republican voters. He also asserted that Bass took a friendly stance toward Pratt in a televised interview last week at the Skirball Cultural Center.

“I think he was doing that in the interview,” Raman said, responding to a question at an informal news conference on Tuesday. “To me, increasing Pratt’s chances of getting into the position of mayor feels very scary.”

Raman raised a similar complaint about Bass when the two argued before the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association on May 5.

“Why are you promoting the campaign of a MAGA Republican who vows to cooperate with ICE, vows to attack immigrants in LA, calls people zombies all the time?” he asked. “Do you prefer yourself as a competitor? Do you prefer LA?”

Bass shot down Raman’s attack.

“I don’t think it’s better for him to compete with him. I don’t want anyone to compete with him, what about that?” said the mayor during the debate.

In an interview the next day, which was televised on NBC4, Raman reiterated that Bass wanted to confront Pratt because of him.

“They don’t want to oppose me, because my views … are based on real results in my district,” said Raman, who represents the Hollywood Hills district on the City Council.

During that debate, Pratt denied any suggestion that he and Bass were working together. Instead, he asserted that Raman and Bass are rebelling against him.

“Karen saw that I was a big threat and had Nithya jump into the race to keep me out of the No. 2 spot,” he said in a video earlier this month.

Bass campaign spokesman Alex Stack dismissed the claims from both campaigns.

“Both campaigns are pushing their own conspiracy theories: Spencer Pratt is accusing us of colluding with Nithya Raman, and Nithya Raman is accusing us of colluding with Spencer Pratt,” he said. “But this is just a distraction from Raman’s poor debate performance and his fear that he won’t win.”

“The truth is, people had high expectations from Nithya Raman when she jumped into the race – but her campaign did not live up to the hype. Especially after the debates last week, we would be happy to face Nithya Raman in general,” he said.

Pratt’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

The strategy of trying to boost Republicans in the primary to make it easier to run has a precedent in California, where Democrats outnumber Republicans.

In 2024, Rep. Adam Schiff released an ad casting his California Senate race as a two-way battle between himself and Republican Steve Garvey – which political analysts say was an attempt to eliminate the Reps. Katie Porter and Barbara Lee.

“Schiff is trying to bolster Garvey’s credibility as an opponent,” Garry South, a former Democratic political consultant, said at the time.

Schiff ended up winning the primary and defeated Garvey in a runoff. In Los Angeles, the Democratic to Republican ratio is very high. More than 50% of registered voters are Democrats, and 18% are Republicans.

Guerra said he disagrees with what he says is an attempt by the Labor coalition to try to reverse the Bass-Pratt reversal.

“Get up and face whoever you’re going to face and convince people of your argument,” Guerra said.

Bass and the Fed, who spend the money as private expenses, are prohibited from communicating about campaign messages by law. Guerra called it an “arms-length relationship,” between the union coalition and the mayoral campaign.

Zev Yaroslavsky, a former City Council member who is now director of the Los Angeles Initiative at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, said the Fed’s ad spending is a drop in the bucket for the mayoral race.

“The ad aims to promote Pratt’s realism with conservative and moderate voters, but I think Pratt does a better job than the ad does,” Yaroslavsky said.