GOP cries foul in California as Pratt misses Los Angeles runoff 

California becomes election integrity battlefield 

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House takes up Senate-passed reconciliation bill 

Peru votes in close presidential election 

President Trump is leading Republicans’ unfounded claims of fraud in California’s glacial vote counting as his preferred candidate was knocked out of the runoff for Los Angeles mayor.  

Progressive Los Angeles City Council member Nithya Raman was projected by Decision Desk HQ to finish ahead of Republican Spencer Pratt, a reality television personality, as the two challenge incumbent Mayor Karen Bass (D), despite Pratt’s significant lead on election night. 

“No way this could have happened. Rigged Election!” the president said in a post on Truth Social in response Monday morning. 

Trump stormed out of an interview with Kristen Welker on “Meet the Press” that aired Sunday during a tense back-and-forth over his claims that the California gubernatorial primary was “rigged.” 

“Do you know why they’re doing that? Because they’re cheating on the election,” Trump said of the notoriously slow voting process. 

Welker pushed back, saying there was no evidence of foul play and pointing out that California typically counts votes slowly. But that hasn’t stopped right-wing voices from alleging wrongdoing as Democrats have steadily closed the gap on Republicans.  

In the race to succeed outgoing Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), Trump-endorsed former Fox News host Steve Hilton led a crowded field on Tuesday night, with former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra following a few points behind and billionaire businessman Tom Steyer in a distant third. 

Following a few days of counting, Becerra moved into first place and was projected to advance to the general election, with Steyer now just 4 points behind Hilton as more ballots from left-leaning areas have been tallied. 

“This is a joke. Everyone sees what’s happening,” Rep. Abe Hamadeh (R-Ariz.) said in a post on the social platform X. “When will Republicans recognize the urgency and pass legislation to fix this broken system before Americans lose faith in our elections?” 

“The ballot corruption is happening in California right before our eyes,” posted Katie Miller, a former communications director for former Vice President Mike Pence and the wife of White House adviser Stephen Miller. 

Bill Essayli, a federal prosecutor for the Central District of California, announced Friday that his office had “multiple election fraud investigations underway,” though he didn’t offer specifics. He said he’s working with Harmeet Dhillon, who leads the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Civil Rights Division, to audit the state’s voter rolls. 

California’s elections are run largely by mail, with ballots sent out to every voter. Mail-in ballots can be counted as long as they are postmarked by Election Day and reach county offices by one week later. In this case, that’s Tuesday, June 9. 

State lawmakers have taken some steps recently to speed up the counting process. Democrats warned ahead of the election that the slow vote count could create fertile ground for false claims.  

“We must acknowledge that the longer the voting count takes, the more mis- and disinformation spreads,” Newsom wrote in a letter to election officials last month. “Time is of the essence in preventing election lies from taking hold.” 

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