SPENCER PRATT has always been fascinated by villains(对反派着迷). At least, that is what he writes in his memoir, "The Guy You Loved to Hate: Confessions From a Reality TV Villain". American millennials will remember Mr Pratt (pictured) as the bad boyfriend on "The Hills"(①《山丘》是美国MTV推出的真人秀，记录...), a reality show that ran from 2006 to 2010 and provided endless tabloid fodder(八卦素材). "The Wicked Witch of the West? My kind of woman", he says in the book.(“西方坏女巫？是我的菜，”他在书中说。) Hannibal Lecter? "We're still quoting that elegant, liver-loving son of a gun(爱吃肝脏的家伙)." Literary genius Mr Pratt is not. But his villainy(反派行为) (real or pretend—he hasn't quite decided) and his trauma (his home burned in the Palisades fire last year) have catapulted him into local politics and upended(颠覆) the race for mayor of Los Angeles.
斯宾塞·普拉特一直对反派着迷。至少，他是在回忆录《你爱恨的那个人：一位真人秀反派的告白》中这么写的。美国千禧一代会记得普拉特（图中）是《山丘》中那个坏男友，这档从2006年播到2010年的真人秀提供了无尽的八卦素材。“西方坏女巫？是我的菜，”他在书中说。汉尼拔·莱克特？“我们还在引用那个优雅的、爱吃肝脏的家伙。”普拉特绝非文学天才。但他的反派（真假难辨——他还没完全确定）和他的悲痛（去年他的家在帕利塞兹大火中烧毁）将他推入地方政治，并颠覆了洛杉矶市长竞选。
The city's mayoral primary will take place(举行) on June 2nd. If no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote, the top two finishers, regardless of(不论) party, advance to the general election in November. Recent polling suggests the incumbent, Karen Bass, will get one of those spots—though the fact that she will not win re-election outright(直接连任) speaks to(说明了) her unpopularity. In March a poll from the Institute of Governmental Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, found that 56% of Angelenos viewed her unfavourably(负面地). Mr Pratt, a registered Republican, and Nithya Raman, a city-council member affiliated with(隶属) the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), are battling for(争夺) the second spot.
该市的市长初选将于6月2日举行。如果无人获得超过50%的选票，则前两名（无论党派）进入11月大选。近期民调显示，现任市长凯伦·巴斯将占据其中一个席位——尽管她无法直接连任的事实说明了她的不受欢迎。3月份，加州大学伯克利分校政府研究所的一项民调发现，56%的洛杉矶人对她的看法负面。普拉特是注册共和党人，而妮提亚·拉曼是隶属美国民主社会主义者的市议员，两人正争夺第二名。
Mr Pratt would not be gaining momentum(获得势头) in heavily-Democratic Los Angeles if things were going well. Unlike California's other big cities, which have rebounded from(从…反弹) pandemic population declines to varying degrees(不同程度地), Los Angeles lost more people than it gained last year. In 2024 the median(中位数) sale price of a single-family home in the region was nearly 11 times higher than(是…的11倍) Angelenos' median household income. Contraction in Hollywood and the collapse(崩溃) of film and TV production in Los Angeles has led to a 30% decline in entertainment jobs in California since 2022. City services are poor. It takes a year, on average, to replace a streetlight due to(由于) copper theft and staffing shortages. When a city repaves a street, the Americans with Disabilities Act often requires it to make costly wheelchair-access upgrades(轮椅无障碍升级) as well. So Los Angeles just stopped repaving streets.
如果情况好转，普拉特不会在民主党占绝对优势的洛杉矶获得势头。与加州其他从疫情人口下降中不同程度恢复的大城市不同，洛杉矶去年流失的人口多于增加的人口。2024年，该地区独栋房屋的中位售价几乎是洛杉矶居民家庭收入中位数的11倍。好莱坞的萎缩以及洛杉矶电影和电视制作的崩溃导致加州自2022年以来娱乐业工作岗位减少了30%。市政服务糟糕。由于铜窃和人员短缺，更换一盏路灯平均需要一年。当城市重铺街道时，《美国残疾人法案》通常要求同时进行昂贵的轮椅无障碍设施升级。于是洛杉矶干脆停止了重铺街道。