Trump Launches Probe of California Primaries
President Donald Trump is once again targeting California’s election system, claiming Democrats are attempting to manipulate the outcomes of two high-profile races while questioning why vote totals remain incomplete days after polls closed.
In a series of posts on Truth Social Thursday, Trump accused Democrats of trying to "steal" both California’s gubernatorial primary and the Los Angeles mayoral primary, pointing to the state’s lengthy ballot-counting process as evidence that something was wrong.
“The Dumocrats are at it again,” Trump wrote.
“They are trying to STEAL THE GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA PRIMARY, AND THE MAYOR OF LOS ANGELES, PRIMARY, AWAY FROM TWO GREAT REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES. Here we go with the very late and massive numbers of MAIL IN BALLOTS.”
Trump also claimed that federal authorities were examining the situation, though details about any investigation remain unclear.
“There’s big cheating by the Dumocrats in California. Votes are all tied up. May not be in for weeks,” Trump posted. “Under investigation by the US Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles. Why [is] the vote counting delay???”
California election officials have long defended the state's vote-counting procedures, noting that the process routinely extends well beyond Election Day. State law allows county election offices up to 30 days to complete the official canvass, verify signatures, process vote-by-mail ballots, and perform required audits before results are certified.
Because California accepts ballots that are postmarked by Election Day but arrive afterward, large numbers of votes can continue to be added to totals for days or even weeks, particularly in close races.
That reality is front and center in this year’s contests.
With roughly 56 percent of ballots reportedly counted statewide, Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton currently leads the field with 27.6 percent of the vote. Hilton, a former adviser to former British Prime Minister David Cameron and a Trump-endorsed candidate, holds a narrow lead over Democrat Xavier Becerra, who trails by about two percentage points.
Under California’s primary system, the top two finishers advance to the general election regardless of party affiliation.
Hilton has built his campaign around criticism of California’s Democratic leadership, arguing that the state has become increasingly unaffordable and difficult to govern. His platform includes proposals to reduce taxes, lower housing costs, establish loan programs for first-time homebuyers, and freeze tuition at public colleges.
Even if Hilton advances, the general election remains a significant challenge for Republicans in a state where Democrats hold a substantial voter registration advantage.
Meanwhile, Los Angeles' mayoral race remains unsettled as ballots continue to be counted.
Incumbent Mayor Karen Bass has already secured a spot in the runoff election, but the battle for second place remains unresolved. Television personality Spencer Pratt currently sits in second with 29.9 percent of the vote, while progressive Democrat Nithya Raman trails at 22.8 percent.
Political observers caution that the race remains fluid because large numbers of uncounted mail-in ballots could alter the standings.
“Don’t count Nithya Raman out yet,” UCLA Luskin School's Zev Yaroslavsky told the Los Angeles Times.
“Pratt has an edge … but it’s not free from doubt at this point.”
Trump’s criticism of California’s process is consistent with his longstanding opposition to mail-in voting. For years, he has argued that expanded vote-by-mail systems create opportunities for fraud and undermine confidence in elections.
Last year, Trump wrote that “ELECTIONS CAN NEVER BE HONEST WITH MAIL IN BALLOTS/VOTING.”
Ahead of the 2020 election, he similarly warned that widespread mail-in voting would produce what he described as the most “INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history.”
California officials, meanwhile, maintain that the extended counting period is designed to ensure every valid ballot is counted and verified before results become official.