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Republicans are claiming voter fraud after the Los Angeles mayor’s election. President Donald Trump made baseless claims of mass fraud in California’s drawn-out vote count from Tuesday’s primary, with late-tallied Democratic-leaning mail ballots eating into the vote totals for the president’s preferred candidates for governor and Los Angeles mayor — NBC Los Angeles / AP, June 6, 2026
One update from the vote count showed thousands of votes for Karen Bass and Nithya Raman, and zero for Spencer Pratt — and one minute later, another update showed thousands of votes for Pratt and zero for Bass and Raman. The AP told CNN there was “a lag in an automated update such that some candidates’ votes were added in one update and the other candidates followed about a minute later” — Pratt was in the second batch, so the counts were slightly delayed — CNN, June 6, 2026
The AP’s data feed had a lag — and Trump’s own US Attorney’s office already confirmed that. The voter fraud allegation built on the AP’s data lag was debunked by the AP itself, the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s office, and Trump-appointed First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli, who confirmed there had been no batch updates recording zero votes for any of the leading candidates — Democracy Docket, June 7, 2026
Trump’s own US Attorney’s office, in coordination with the FBI, has now opened “multiple election fraud investigations.” First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli, whose office is also attempting to audit the state voter rolls, confirmed the investigation late Friday and said his office has “multiple election fraud investigations underway” — Washington Post, June 6, 2026
Essayli cited “serious structural vulnerabilities” in California’s election system. Essayli wrote on X that “California’s election system has serious structural vulnerabilities” and that “universal vote-by-mail with no voter ID requirements creates conditions where fraud can go undetected and unpunished” — Townhall, June 5, 2026
The press release came one day after the President posted on Truth Social demanding action. Essayli’s announcement and the assignment of a prosecutor to the LA County ballot tabulation center came the day after Trump said his Department of Justice was investigating the California count — Associated Press / US News, June 5, 2026
Karen Bass’s vote share went from around 37% to 35% as counting progressed. In the latest results with 83% of expected votes counted, incumbent Mayor Karen Bass was leading with 34.7% of the vote, Nithya Raman in second with 27.1%, and Spencer Pratt trailing at 26.7% — ABC7 Los Angeles, June 7, 2026
Mail-in ballots in California lean Democratic, and late mail favored the progressive in the race. Mail ballots, which are counted over a series of days, often favor Democratic candidates in the blue-leaning state; in 2022 Karen Bass was not announced as the winner until eight days after election day — NBC News, June 5, 2026
Bass is the establishment Democrat; Raman is the progressive who entered the race as a last-minute challenger from Bass’s left. Nithya Raman, described as a progressive Los Angeles councilmember, announced her mayoral run three hours before the filing deadline, breaking with Bass less than two weeks after endorsing her reelection — Politico (via Yahoo), February 2026
The city of Los Angeles in 2024 voted for Kamala Harris over Donald Trump, 70 to 26. In the now-certified 2024 election, more than seven in 10 city residents voted for Kamala Harris, while 26.5% opted for Donald Trump — Crosstown LA, December 16, 2024