'Rigged Election': Trump Unleashes Fiery Rant After Ex-Reality Star Spencer Pratt Loses Massive Lead in Los Angeles Mayoral Race
Donald Trump said it was 'not possible' for Spencer Pratt to have lost so many votes in the post-election mail in ballots.
June 8 2026, Published 5:00 p.m. ET
Donald Trump is once again blasting California's election system as "rigged," this time pointing to the Los Angeles mayoral race and Spencer Pratt's stunning slide from a close second-place finish on election night to being nearly knocked out of contention by socialist Nithya Raman after nearly a week of mail-in ballots were counted, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
City Councilwoman Raman, 36, was so far behind on June 2's primary election night that she appeared to give a tearful concession speech. Nearly a week later, she made up a seven-point deficit to overtake Pratt and appears poised to battle incumbent Mayor Karen Bass in the November general election.
Trump raged after Pratt lost his huge lead.
"Not possible for Spencer Pratt to have lost the L.A. runoffs after the big lead he had," Trump wrote in a June 8 Truth Social post, six days after election day.
The president raged that California is a "3rd World Nation" with "Rigged Elections!"
Trump then turned his attention to Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton, who led in the polls for months through election day, and finished on top over Democrat Xavier Becerra on election night.
The Associated Press called the race in Becerra's favor on June 5, three days after more mail-in ballots were counted, as Hilton's numbers continue to slide behind the former Health and Human Services Secretary in post-election tallying.
Donald Trump Claims Republican Gubernatorial Candidate Steve Hilton Could Be In Danger
Republican Steve Hilton led on election night but Democrat Xavier Beccera was declared the winner of the California gubernatorial race after three days of mail-in ballot counting.
"Now they'll be working on great guy Steve Hilton," Trump fumed about how the former Fox News host has yet to be declared Beccera's opponent in November.
While Democrat Tom Steyer remains far back in third place and unlikely to gain the 300,000-plus votes needed to overtake Hilton with 70 percent of the vote counted, the president railed against California's agonizingly slow and controversial tallying system.
"Won't have results for, possibly, TWO WEEKS, according to officials," he noted, signing off "President DJT."
Nithya Raman trailed far behind Karen Bass and Pratt in the polls leading up to the primary election.
California's overall election system is highly unique, starting with the "jungle primary" system, where the top two overall vote-getters move on to the general election, rather than the victor from the Democratic and Republican races.
The Golden State also mails ballots to everyone on the voter rolls, whether they requested one or not, with numerous former residents claiming they received ballots despite moving out years ago.
Mail-in ballots are then accepted by registrars' offices for a full seven days after the election, as long as they are postmarked on election day, resulting in a long counting process that can take up to a month, and prompting accusations from critics that it encourages fraud.
Spencer Pratt Is Remaining Optimistic
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Pratt's seven-point lead over Raman was erased in after days of mail-in ballot counting.
Trump warned that trouble was afoot the day after the election in a June 3 Truth Social post, warning that Republican candidates were about to see their leads diminish.
"The Dumocrats are at it again! They are trying to STEAL THE GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA PRIMARY, AND THE MAYOR OF LOS ANGELES, PRIMARY, AWAY FROM TWO GREAT REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES," the Commander-in-Chief railed.
He added, "Here we go with the very late and massive numbers of MAIL IN BALLOTS."
Although Raman hasn't officially been declared Bass' opponent in November, the mayor put out a statement about running the Democratic Socialist of America candidate over the next five months.
"We look forward to winning a contest against an opponent who allows encampments near schools and fights against hiring more cops, yet is MIA on saving Hollywood jobs and fighting back when ICE invades LA," Bass' camp said on June 7, clearly referring to Raman's voting record on the City Council.
For his part, Pratt is staying optimistic that the remaining mail-in votes still waiting to be counted could shift the race in his favor.
"Folks, we're dealing with a fraction of a percentage point difference, there's still hundreds of thousands of votes outstanding, and LA officials have given us the next 3 weeks to count! Let's git-r-dun!" he shared with supporters in a June 8 post on X.
