Reality television personality Spencer Pratt has exited the Los Angeles mayoral contest after his Democratic rivals locked in their places in the November runoff, intensifying long-standing conservative concerns about Californias opaque election practices.
According to the Daily Caller, Pratt launched his outsider campaign on the one-year anniversary of the destructive Palisades fire in January and ultimately captured roughly 26% of the vote, according to NBC News. Democratic incumbent Karen Bass secured her runoff berth on primary night with 34.3%, while progressive city councilwoman Nithya Raman surged late to claim second place with 28.5%.
Californias drawn-out vote-counting process, driven largely by expansive mail-in balloting, once again stretched for days and fueled skepticism about the integrity of the results. Ramans abrupt late surge, in particular, drew scrutiny from conservatives and even from President Donald Trump, who has long warned that mass mail-in voting invites abuse.
Theyre dropping fast because its a rigged election Trump said of Republicans performance in the recent California elections. Theyre cheating on the election. All I have to do is look. His remarks echoed the frustration of many right-leaning voters who see the states election system as structurally tilted toward Democrats and insulated from meaningful oversight.
Do you think its appropriate that they have an election and five days later theyre nowhere close to picking a winner? Trump added, in an interview with NBCs Kristen Welker. Theyre crooked, just like youre crooked. For conservatives, the spectacle of days of shifting tallies in a major American city underscores the need for tighter election laws, prompt counting, and a rollback of pandemic-era voting expansions that have now become entrenched.
On election night, Pratt held an advantage of roughly eight points over Raman, a margin large enough that the councilwoman delivered a teary quasi-concession speech only hours after polls closed. Nearly a week later, however, Raman had gained more than six points while Pratt slipped behind, even as Bass share of the vote remained strikingly stable throughout the mail-in count.
Pratt responded with a mix of sarcasm and suspicion, alluding to the razor-thin margins and the dramatic late shift in the race. 43,000, huh? Pratt asked, referring to the swing in favor of Raman. Where have I seen that number before?
His social media post included a screenshot noting that roughly 43,700 people experienced homelessness on any given night in Los Angeles, a stark reminder of the citys deep social crisis under progressive leadership. Probably nothing, Pratt added, leaving followers to draw their own conclusions about the coincidence and the broader reliability of the process.
The scenario Pratt sketched out resonates in a state where election controversies are no longer hypothetical. Just weeks earlier, a California woman named Brenda Lee Brown Armstrong agreed to a plea deal after she was charged with paying people to register to vote, including homeless individuals she encountered on Skid Row, according to the Department of Justice. For many conservatives, Pratts defeat, Trumps warnings, and the Armstrong case together highlight a troubling pattern in California politics: a powerful Democratic machine, a vulnerable election system, and a political class more interested in preserving its dominance than restoring public trust.
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