California Governor Gavin Newsom responded sharply after Donald Trump accused California of election fraud because Spencer Pratt, the former reality television star Trump supported, fell behind in the Los Angeles mayoral primary. Pratt, who had been expected to finish second and advance to a runoff against incumbent Mayor Karen Bass, slipped into third place after progressive council member Nithya Raman took a lead of about 3,000 votes on Sunday, June 7. If Raman maintains her advantage as ballots are fully counted, she would face Bass in the November runoff, ending Pratt’s campaign.
Trump reacted on Truth Social by claiming the contest was “rigged,” saying there was “no way this could have happened” and suggesting that California’s elections are being manipulated. He also alleged, without providing evidence, that “crooked” election practices were cheating Republican candidates and harming the country. The remarks fit a pattern of Trump’s long-running complaints about California’s vote counting process, which often takes time because of the state’s large number of mail-in and late-counted ballots.
Newsom pushed back on X, mocking Trump’s claims and calling him “the biggest sore loser in the country.” He also told Trump to “back to bed, grandpa,” escalating the public feud. Newsom has frequently faced Trump’s criticism over California elections, and he has previously urged election workers to count ballots quickly and accurately to reduce the spread of misinformation. Ahead of the June 2 primary, Newsom warned that delays in reporting vote totals can fuel false narratives and encourage election lies before results are finalized.
Trump had already been pressed on the issue in an interview with Meet the Press, where NBC host Kristen Welker asked him to provide proof that California was rigging elections. Trump offered only his own intuition, saying he could tell by looking, then walked out after being challenged further. His latest claims followed that exchange and renewed scrutiny of his repeated accusations about election integrity in California.
The dispute comes as vote counting continues in the Los Angeles mayoral race, where Raman’s late surge has changed the expected outcome. Pratt’s drop to third place marks a major shift in the contest and could alter the final matchup for City Hall. The episode has also become a fresh political flashpoint between Trump and Newsom, with California’s election process once again at the center of a national argument over misinformation, vote-counting delays, and baseless fraud allegations.
