President Trump is sharply condemning the Los Angeles mayoral contest after Democratic City Councilwoman Nithya Raman suddenly overtook Republican favorite Spencer Pratt in a protracted vote count that has stretched nearly a week past Election Day.
According to The Gateway Pundit, Raman had initially trailed Pratt by roughly 40,000 votes before a series of late-arriving mail-in ballot dumps reversed the trajectory of the race and pushed her into a projected runoff with incumbent Mayor Karen Bass. The outlet reported that another suspicious tranche of ballots gave Raman the edge, fueling conservative concerns that the process is being manipulated to sideline a popular Republican challenger in one of the nations most liberal strongholds.
Local media have acknowledged the improbability of Pratts comeback under the current counting pattern, even as they leave a narrow window open. ABC7s Jory Rand remarked that, while unlikely, Pratt could "somehow" regain the lead if "we see a batch in the last couple of days of those mail-in ballots that were heavy on Spencer Pratt."
The numbers, however, have only deepened skepticism among conservatives about the integrity of Californias election system. Raman surged from a massive deficit to a lead of more than 3,000 votes after Los Angeles officials spent five days tallying late-arriving mail-in ballots, with an estimated 146,000 ballots still left to count.
Pratt had dominated among mail-in ballots received by Election Day, but those arriving afterward have broken heavily for Democrats, a pattern that critics say strains credulity. Many on the right are asking, Where did these votes come from? How can anybody trust these results?
President Trump, who has long warned about the vulnerabilities of mass mail-in voting, denounced the unfolding tally in blunt terms. Responding to the late surges for Raman, he wrote, "No way this could have happened. Rigged Election!"
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office last week, the President tied the Los Angeles race to broader concerns about Californias election practices. "You see what's happening in California. They're rigging the election!" he declared, underscoring his view that extended counting windows and lax safeguards invite fraud.
In a tense interview with NBCs Kristen Welker, Trump escalated his criticism of the drawn-out process. "Do you think its appropriate that they have an election, and five days later, theyre nowhere close to picking a winner?" Trump said of the outrageous vote-counting process. "Youre either crooked, or youre stupid!"
He then broadened his attack to the media establishment, accusing major outlets of enabling a corrupt system. Your elections are crooked, and youre crooked, and meet the press is crooked, and so is ABC and CBS and CNN, Trump added before leaving the set.
Federal authorities, meanwhile, appear to be taking at least some of these concerns seriously. First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli announced Friday that his office is pursuing multiple election fraud investigations with the FBI and conducting a comprehensive audit of Californias voter rolls in coordination with the DOJs Civil Rights Division.
Essayli has also highlighted how permissive Californias identification rules are, noting that voters may use a gym membership card, employer ID, credit or debit card, prescription drug label, or an insurance carddocuments that, he pointed out, the state also issues to illegal aliens. "We also have serious concerns about how California maintains its voter rolls. There are open questions about whether the state is promptly removing deceased voters, people who have moved, and individuals convicted of disqualifying felonies," Essayli said, signaling that any final results could face serious legal scrutiny.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Renner was seen at the LA County ballot processing center on Friday, reportedly questioning officials about procedures as ballots continued to be tabulated. With investigations underway and public confidence in Californias elections under strain, conservatives will be watching closely as the count drags on and as further revelations emerge about how the state manages its voter rolls and mail-in ballot system.
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