Republican Spencer Pratt said Monday that "hundreds of thousands of votes" remain outstanding in the Los Angeles mayoral primary, after Decision Desk HQ (DDHQ) projected that city councilmember Nithya Raman will face incumbent Mayor Karen Bass in the November general election.
Pratt wrote on social media platform X: "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!"
As of Sunday evening, Pratt trailed Raman by 3,113 votes, according to DDHQ. Bass was more than 50,000 votes ahead of both candidates.
Bass received more than 34.68 percent of the vote so far, with Raman at 27.12 percent and Pratt at 26.69 percent, per DDHQ tallies.
What the Right Is Saying
President Trump has said in recent days that the California primary is "rigged" in favor of Democrats, without providing evidence. On Monday, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform: "3rd World Nation." He also claimed it was "not possible" for Pratt to finish third behind Bass and Raman.
Pratt suggested Sunday that homeless Los Angelenos were potentially affecting the race for second place. Responding to a journalist who noted that Raman had passed Pratt via a net swing of more than 43,000 votes since Tuesday, Pratt shared a screenshot referencing a city report stating 43,699 people were homeless at one point last year.
"43,000, huh? Where have I seen that number before...? Probably nothing," Pratt wrote on X.
What the Left Is Saying
California election law allows mail-in ballots to be counted if they are postmarked by Election Day and arrive at county offices by June 9, meaning counting could continue for weeks after last Tuesday's primary.
Geoffrey Skelley, chief elections analyst for DDHQ, told The Hill that many Democrats in Los Angeles turned in their ballots "at the last minute," with Raman holding a clear edge over Pratt in votes counted since election night. "What has happened is that things have continued to trend toward Raman in the race for second place against Spencer Pratt, who ... has been winning a notably lower share than he had on election night," Skelley said. He added that "there's no reason to think that the trend is going to shift."
Statewide, more than 3 million ballots remained outstanding as of Friday afternoon, according to California Secretary of State Shirley Weber's office.
What the Numbers Show
Current vote totals as of Sunday evening show Bass leading with over 34.68 percent, followed by Raman at 27.12 percent and Pratt at 26.69 percent, per DDHQ.
Pratt trails Raman by 3,113 votes in the race for second place.
Raman has passed Pratt via a net swing of more than 43,000 votes since election night.
Bass holds a lead of more than 50,000 votes over both challengers combined.
California had more than 3 million ballots outstanding statewide as of Friday afternoon, according to Secretary of State Weber's office.
Mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day are valid if received by county offices by June 9.
The Bottom Line
The DDHQ projection places Bass and Raman in the November general election matchup, though Pratt has pointed to hundreds of thousands of outstanding votes as a reason the race is not yet decided. With California law allowing mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day through June 9, final results may not be known for several weeks. Trump has criticized California's vote-counting process without providing evidence to support claims of irregularities.