Spencer Pratt Fires Back Over Claims He Misled Voters About Living in Trailer

Spencer Pratt is digging in over the backlash surrounding his mayoral campaign ad ... insisting he never lied about living in an Airstream trailer after being called out for actually staying at the ritzy Hotel Bel-Air.

The candidate joined "TMZ Live" Wednesday after we broke the story ... he's been staying at maybe the swankiest hotel in L.A. ... this after calling out the luxury homes where incumbent Mayor Karen Bass and challenger Nithya Raman live. But Spencer says people are missing the point.

“I don't live at the hotel Bel Air. I don't live in the Airstream. I don't live in Santa Barbara. I don't have a house. They burned it down,” he said.

Harvey pressed Spencer repeatedly over the ad's wording ... noting the commercial clearly gave viewers the impression he was physically living in the trailer. Spencer texted Harvey early today, "I have never told anyone I lived there." Yet in the campaign he said, "This is where I live" as he stood in front of his trailer with the door open.

Spencer didn't back down, saying of the Palisades property ... "That is where I live, period. I don't need to sleep there every night. I don't need to go number two on that toilet. That is where I live."

He also claimed death threats tied to his campaign forced him into temporary housing and hotels for safety reasons -- and claims he only sleeps about 4 hours per night anyway. We're also told his wife, Heidi, and their kids are staying in Carpinteria, just north of L.A. So the trailer is sitting lonely.

"I'm at a hotel because these psychopaths are messaging me every day they’re going to kill me,” Spencer said ... later adding, "You can literally snipe me out from any part from 300 yards away easily."