President Donald Trump accused Democrats of attempting to manipulate the California primary elections, citing reports that final vote totals may take weeks to finalize. He made these comments on his Truth Social account early Thursday morning.
In his posts, Trump stated, "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. Here we go with the very late and massive numbers of mail-in ballots."
Trump has consistently criticized mail-in ballots, linking them to allegations of voter fraud. He previously claimed that the 2020 presidential election was rigged due to the counting of mail-in ballots after polls closed. Recently, he has called for a ban on mail-in voting while continuing to associate it with fraud.
In March, Trump signed an executive order titled "Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections," which recommended using secure ballot envelope identifiers to enhance election integrity without infringing on eligible voters' rights.
As of Wednesday evening, with 63% of the vote counted in the Los Angeles mayoral election, incumbent Democrat Karen Bass led with 35.0% of the votes, followed by Republican Spencer Pratt at 29.9%. In the California gubernatorial primary, with 56% of votes counted, Republican Steve Hilton led with 27.6%, followed closely by Democrat Xavier Becerra at 25.6%.
In a subsequent post, Trump reiterated his accusations of cheating and mentioned that the voting process in Los Angeles was under federal investigation, although he did not provide further details or evidence. The California Governor's Press Office responded to Trump's claims, stating, "Trump is lying about California again — time to take the phone away from grandpa and put him to sleep."
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis also criticized the delay in California's vote counting, calling it "pathetic" and detrimental to civic culture, noting that Florida processes millions of votes much more quickly than California.
