On June 2, Karen Bass emerged from the Los Angeles primary having secured <a href="https://www.foxla.com/news/la-mayoral-race-raman-closes-gap-spencer-pratt">roughly 34% of the vote</a>. The math is damning: two-thirds of Angelenos essentially voted to fire their mayor. Yet, the machine delivered a runoff regardless. 
This November, Bass will square off against Nithya Raman, a councilwoman deeply aligned with the city&#8217;s Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) bloc. Spencer Pratt, the Palisades fire survivor who campaigned as the authentic outsider, was relegated to third place and is out of the running. This outcome was no statistical quirk. It was the calculated result of a teachers&#8217; union political operation that has spent years colonizing every tier of L.A.’s government and is now poised to seize the final office it does not yet control. 
 
The mechanics are not complicated. The L.A. County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, which represents 800,000 workers across 300 unions and counts United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA), the American Federation of Teachers&#8217; (AFT) L.A. affiliate, among its members, <a href="https://thelafed.org/news/los-angeles-labor-movement-endorses-mayor-karen-bass-for-re-election/">formally endorsed Bass for re-election in November 2025</a>. 
UTLA&#8217;s own 2026 endorsement slate skipped the mayor&#8217;s race and built out the rest of City Hall around her. Council picks Hugo Soto-Martinez, Eunisses Hernandez, and Estuardo Mazariegos, <a href="https://utla.net/campaigns/2026-endorsements/">all listed on UTLA&#8217;s official endorsement page</a>, belong to the same DSA-aligned bloc reshaping the city. The fix was in months ago. 
 
What did the union have to fear from Spencer Pratt? Look at what he told Bill Maher on his podcast in May. Maher asked whether Pratt was strong enough to &#8220;buck the unions.&#8221; Pratt answered that union leadership was running &#8220;a scam&#8221; on its own members and pledged to push back. &#8220;You had me at hello,&#8221; Maher <a href="https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/you-had-me-at-hello-bill-maher-fawns-over-authentic-spencer-pratt-in-podcast-appearance/">told</a> him. 
Pratt was the only candidate in the field who promised to take on the racket controlling California schools and run it into the ground. He was the candidate the union needed to be gone. On June 8, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/los-angeles-mayor-election-bass-raman-pratt-2026/">CBS News</a> called the runoff for Raman over Pratt. Within days, Pratt acknowledged defeat. The union got the November matchup it wanted. 
 
The union&#8217;s political project does not stop at L.A.’s city limits, and it is not abstract. A new Defending Education <a href="https://defendinged.org/investigations/diverted-state-and-local-teachers-unions-spending/">report</a> finds that state and local teachers union affiliates have funneled $336 million to left-wing groups and political action committees since 2015. 
UTLA itself has spent more than $7 million on this kind of activity. The California Teachers Association&#8217;s PACs have spent over $106 million. None of that went to teaching kids to read. It went to elections, ballot measures, and ideological allies. Some of it went directly to anti-ICE organizing. The union is not even pretending the money is for classrooms anymore. 
 
What has all that buying bought? Ask Bass. In April 2026, UTLA threatened a massive strike against the Los Angeles Unified School District. Bass personally jumped into the talks. &#8220;I stepped into negotiations to make sure that every effort was made to find an agreement,&#8221;<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/los-angeles-schools-open-negotiations-labor-deal/"> she said afterward</a>, citing her concern about disruption to kids and parents. Within days, UTLA had a tentative two-year contract with an <a href="https://laist.com/brief/news/education/la-unified-school-district-reaches-tentative-labor-deal-with-teachers">11.65% raise and a $77,000 starting salary</a>. Two months later, the union helped deliver Bass her runoff slot. Call that a coincidence if you want. The union didn&#8217;t. 
 
For Angelenos, the November ballot is a runoff with no real choice. Bass and Raman are both progressive Democrats. Raman ran to Bass&#8217;s left as a DSA ally and gained ground in the count precisely because the city&#8217;s most committed left-wing activists turned out for her. 
The roughly two-thirds of LA voters who picked someone other than Bass wanted accountability for the coalition that delivered Bass to a runoff against an even further-left challenger. In both cities, the candidate who threatened to break the union&#8217;s hold lost. The Teacher Freedom Alliance was founded because teachers should never be conscripted into politics they did not choose. Voters should not be either. 
 
AFT president Randi Weingarten has spent the last several months touring bookstores promoting a manifesto her members paid for. Her local affiliates have used the same months to hand themselves their next mayor. They have until November 3 to make it stick. Same machine, same playbook, and the same political casualty: anyone who tried to compete with the union for the right to govern an American city. 
 
L.A. didn&#8217;t pick its mayor on June 2. UTLA did. November is the formality.
*** 
 
Ryan Walters is the CEO of the Teacher Freedom Alliance and former State Superintendent of Public Instruction in Oklahoma.

Mayor Karen Bass and City Councilwoman Nithya Raman hold mayoral election forum

How Teachers’ Unions Torpedoed Spencer Pratt And Picked L.A.’s Mayor

American Federation of Teachers

Democratic Socialists Of America

DW Opinion

Karen Bass

L.A. mayoral election

Nithya Raman

Spencer Pratt

Teachers Unions

United Teachers Los Angeles

Former MTV reality star Spencer Pratt jabbed at incumbent Mayor Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) when he learned that the mayor&#8217;s own brother had joined a class-action lawsuit against the city over the Palisades fire.
Pratt announced that he and his wife, fellow reality star Heidi Montag, were suing Los Angeles almost immediately after the deadly fire destroyed their home — but he responded on Sunday to the news that Kenneth D. Bass was also joining the suit over the loss of his multi-million-dollar Malibu home.
&#8220;I am proud to be teaming up with Karen Bass&#8217; brother in suing his sister for her reckless negligence that led to the destruction of our homes,&#8221; Pratt captioned a clip from a local news report. &#8220;I hope their Thanksgiving dinner isn&#8217;t too awks. I know ours hasn&#8217;t been the same since last year &#8230;&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
I am proud to be teaming up with Karen Bass&#8217; brother in suing his sister for her reckless negligence that led to the destruction of our homes. I hope their Thanksgiving dinner isn&#8217;t too awks. I know ours hasn&#8217;t been the same since last year&#8230; <a href="https://t.co/d8YyGjJ775">pic.twitter.com/d8YyGjJ775</a>
— Spencer Pratt (@spencerpratt) <a href="https://x.com/spencerpratt/status/2066200731909021757?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 14, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The ABC affiliate revealed court documents that showed Kenneth D. Bass as a plaintiff in a case filed in May, in which he joined the class-action suit and claimed to have suffered from &#8220;smoke inhalation, severe emotional distress, mental anguish and annoyance&#8221; in addition to the loss of his home.
&#8220;As part of the mass tort legal process, Mr. and Mrs. Bass’ names were formally added as some of the nearly 40,000 victims who suffered losses. Their family connections are irrelevant, and as non-public citizens they are entitled to respectful privacy as they pursue their legal rights along with all represented victims,&#8221; attorneys for Kenneth Bass and his wife told <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/06/11/us-news/karen-bass-responds-to-brothers-lawsuit-over-palisades-fire-home-loss/">The New York Post</a>.
The home in question has not been rebuilt, and Bass sold the 1.5-acre lot — that still includes a putting green, a pool, and a guest house that were not lost in the fire — for $2 million last May.
The suit blames the city&#8217;s failure to respond to the fire on the reservoirs that were depleted: &#8220;The Palisades Fire has been a traumatic event for its victims, who through no fault of their own, went from homeowners to homeless in a matter of hours.&#8221;
During a recent campaign event, Mayor Bass — who is facing a run-off challenge in November from Democratic-socialist city councilwoman Nithya Raman — was clearly avoiding the question when she was asked three times about her brother&#8217;s addition to the suit.
&#8220;We’re not talking about that!&#8221; an aide pushed back as Bass was pressed on the issue.

Spencer Pratt Visits “Fox & Friends”

Karen Bass’ Brother Teams Up With Spencer Pratt In Lawsuit Against The Mayor

Lawsuit

Media

Palisades Fire

Politics

Former reality TV star turned Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt dropped another viral video on Friday, declaring &#8220;war&#8221; on what he called &#8220;the machine&#8221; that left voters with &#8220;two corrupt communists&#8221; in the general election.
&#8220;I got in this to expose this corrupt machine,&#8221; Pratt says at the beginning of the video. &#8220;I don&#8217;t have the campaign laws hamstringing me now. It&#8217;s war.&#8221;
The three-minute video, called &#8220;Saving LA &#8211; Phase III,&#8221; targets incumbent Mayor Karen Bass and far-left Councilmember Nithya Raman, two Democrats who advanced to the November runoff after Pratt finished third in the primary.
Pratt said he is now &#8220;moving on to the next, more interesting phase&#8221; of his mission, which includes a secret recording he claims implicates &#8220;one of your exalted candidates.&#8221; He threatened to make the recording public and said it would &#8220;make her resign in shame.&#8221;
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  <iframe style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; max-width: 100%; width: 100%; margin: 20px auto 5px; border: 0;" src="https://player.mux.com/Zakre00lFFMsjSY0200a31SQZ2vPfxylQ7r?metadata-video-content-type=embed_video&amp;metadata-video-id=e3dab635-9079-4982-ba37-e60002d72ca0&amp;metadata-video-stream-type=on-demand&amp;metadata-video-title=2026-06-12%20Spencer%20Pratt%20Goes%20Scorched%20Earth&amp;poster=https%3A%2F%2Fdailywireplus-v2.imgix.net%2Fimages%2Fembedded-videos%2Fe4c93522-e7be-4ab4-b2b8-cb172b285d14.png&amp;autoplay=false&amp;accent-color=%23DB3D3B&amp;primary-color=%23ffffff&amp;secondary-color=%23000000" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Credit: X: @spencerpratt
</div>
&#8220;Go ahead and pick your demon, certify your choice, and then you get to see it,&#8221; he said. &#8220;So Karen and Nithya, ask yourself, is it possible that one of your employees may have a recording of you doing or saying something that would force you to resign in disgrace? I hope you sleep well over the next five months.&#8221;
Pratt painted a bleak picture of L.A. through images of rampant graffiti, garbage-strewn streets, drug activity, public defecation, burned-out structures, and shuttered businesses.
&#8220;Angelenos are now stuck with two morons responsible for all of their problems, and they have to choose between dumb and dumber,&#8221; Pratt said. &#8220;That&#8217;s not a choice. That&#8217;s the machine protecting the machine.&#8221;
&#8220;And now every problem that plagues Los Angeles because of these two corrupt communists is going to accelerate, and the city will tumble headlong into the abyss,&#8221; he added.
With roughly 98% of the vote counted, Bass finished first in the primary with 34.3% of the vote, while Raman overtook Pratt earlier this week to finish second with 28.9%. Pratt received 25.5%. The top two finishers advance to the general election unless one candidate receives more than 50% of the vote.
Pratt, a Republican, vowed to continue attacking both Democrats through the runoff campaign.
&#8220;I&#8217;m going to be lighting you up every single day,&#8221; Pratt promised.
&#8220;My goal hasn&#8217;t changed. I&#8217;ve been laser-focused on stopping these commie animals, and I will stop them.&#8221;

WATCH: Spencer Pratt Goes Scorched Earth On ‘Two Corrupt Communists,’ Declares ‘War’

California

Elections

Los Angeles

Los Angeles mayor

Many people believe the Los Angeles mayoral election is being stolen.
They&#8217;re wrong.
It was stolen months ago; perhaps years ago.
There was a mayoral election in L.A. on June 2. The initial results showed that the top two finishers were going to be Karen Bass, the current mayor of L.A., who literally trained in Cuba as a revolutionary — and she was the moderate Democrat in that particular race — and Spencer Pratt, a former reality TV star who ran as an independent Republican and had been running an extremely viral online campaign. The third person was Nithya Raman, who&#8217;s on the L.A. City Council and is a complete psychotic leftist.
When the initial results came in on June 2, it looked as though Spencer Pratt and Karen Bass were going to be the people to win; the very early results on election night showed that Pratt was up some 25,000 votes on Raman, and Bass was up another 30,000 votes on Pratt.
And then, as the election results came in by June 4-5, Spencer Pratt&#8217;s votes had flatlined, and there was a fairly significant increase in votes for Nithya Raman. By June 6, the mayoral counts started to shift radically in favor of Nithya Rama.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ben-shapiro-show-ep-2440?elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowHeadline=Recent+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-981859" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ben-banner.avif" alt="" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ben-banner.avif 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ben-banner-300x50.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ben-banner-768x128.jpg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
One of the things that&#8217;s fascinating here is that you can see that the lines for Karen Bass and Nithya Raman started elevating at the same rate between June 4-6 and they flatlined completely for Spencer Pratt, which means virtually all of the early votes that were cast on the Raman v. Pratt side were cast in favor of Pratt — or at least heavily biased for Pratt — and all the late-breaking votes, meaning the mail-in ballots, were heavily biased toward Nithya Raman.
This was not a glitch. It is the blueprint.
I know a lot of people right now are very upset that the initial results looked more Republican and conservative, and then, as more results came in, the graphs shifted toward Democrats. We saw this in 2020, most obviously, when the early results seemed to show President Donald Trump in the lead, and everybody had been talking about the fact that mail-in ballots, which in many cases were counted after the actual day of the election, would shift toward blue because Democrats were voting significantly by mail.
When I say the election was stolen months ago, I mean that state regulations benefit ballot harvesting. I think the way people generally think of stolen elections is wrong. I don&#8217;t think you have a bunch of people sitting there falsifying ballots, or a ballot tabulator picking up an empty ballot, filling in a fake name or ID number, and then writing in the ballot.
I don&#8217;t think that&#8217;s what&#8217;s actually happening here.
What&#8217;s actually happening is widespread voter registration and then ballot harvesting. According to California state regulations, first-time voters can vote using — I&#8217;m not making this up — a commercial credit card or a health club ID. So that LA Fitness ID that somebody got five years ago, never used, can be used to register to vote. The law in California explicitly says that any doubt must be liberally construed to allow a person to cast a regular ballot, with zero real verification.
When you combine legal ballot harvesting with the total collapse of voter ID, you end up with some pretty shady election practices. And this is why I think people were shocked.
Nithya Raman gave a speech on the night of the election, crying. It looked as though she had basically conceded the race. And now it turns out she will probably be in the runoff against Karen Bass.
Spencer Pratt reacted to this by writing, “A net swing of more than 43,000 votes since Tuesday &#8230;  43,000. Where have I seen that number before? Probably nothing.”
That 43,000 is a reference to the fact that the city of L.A. currently has approximately 43,695 homeless people, including people in temporary shelters.
That means ballot harvesters will go to homeless shelters and ask people if they wish to vote, and then, in some cases, they&#8217;ll help them mark the ballot, or they&#8217;ll stand over them while they mark it. And then they will take those ballots to a drop box and drop them off.
According to California&#8217;s Vote 411, you can cast a valid vote by mail as long as your ballot is postmarked or dropped off in a drop box on Election Day. In 2021, California law mandated that every active voter in the state receive a mail-in ballot.
What you&#8217;ve seen since 2016 is not only a radical increase in voter turnout in California, but also a radical increase in mail-in balloting. In the 2024 election cycle, 80% of all Californians voted by mail. Seventy-two percent of L.A. County voted by mail. Voter turnout in 2024 was 62.1%. That is the second-highest turnout in California state history. That is more raw votes cast than in 2008, when Barack Obama was on the ballot, and you got this sort of historic voter turnout.
In 2020, which, of course, is a wild outlier election because of Covid, 87% of all Californians voted by mail. Seventy-eight percent of L.A. County voted by mail. Voter turnout was almost 70%, the highest in California&#8217;s modern history.
If you wonder, one reason President Trump has talked so much about the stolen 2020 election — although I think the evidence is scanty that there was voter fraud sufficient to overcome the burden of proof — is that 24 states and Washington, D.C., allowed a voter to designate any person to drop off their completed ballot.
Ballot harvesters go to the houses of the people whom they know are registered Democrats. They knock on the door and say, “Give me your ballot. I want to make sure that it gets in on time.”
Some states, such as California, allow designated persons to return an unlimited number of ballots. Other states cap the quantity to prevent large-scale operations.
Colorado, for example, caps at 10 ballots per person. But in California, you can go pick up 100 ballots. You&#8217;re a Democratic state representative, a party worker. You go out, and you pick up 500 ballots from addresses that you know are registered Democrats, boosting your voter turnout.
That&#8217;s why President Trump is skeptical about the 2020 election: the combination of mail-in voting and ballot harvesting meant that two-thirds of Americans turned out to vote.
If you&#8217;re wondering why people are suspicious of our elections, this is the reason.

Sherlock_Spencer_LAbackground

You’re Looking For The Crime Scene In The Wrong Place

Ben Shapiro

California Elections

Election Fraud

Opinion

Leftist Los Angeles City Councilmember Nithya Raman will advance to the November mayoral election after nearly a week of counting late-arriving ballots, locking Republican Spencer Pratt out of the race.
Sunday’s vote drop surged Raman past Pratt for the first time, a stunning turnaround for the leftist who trailed Pratt by more than nine points on election night.
<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/us/elections/results-california-mayor-los-angeles.html">With 83% of the vote counted,</a> incumbent Mayor Karen Bass holds 34.7%, Raman in second at 27.1% and Pratt placing third with 26.7%. <a href="https://x.com/DecisionDeskHQ/status/2063772730437075457?s=20">Decision Desk HQ</a> projected the race at 7:57 p.m. EDT.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Decision Desk HQ projects Nithya Raman wins the second of two spots in the CA Los Angeles Mayor Nonpartisan Primary<a href="https://x.com/hashtag/DecisionMade?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#DecisionMade</a>: 7:57 PM EDT <a href="https://t.co/PIwkJ5xxGO">pic.twitter.com/PIwkJ5xxGO</a>
— Decision Desk HQ (@DecisionDeskHQ) <a href="https://x.com/DecisionDeskHQ/status/2063772730437075457?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 7, 2026</a></blockquote>
Pratt and Raman have been watching the returns closely since the primary election was held on June 2 to determine which of them will face off in November against Democrat incumbent Mayor Karen Bass. Pratt held a lead of nearly ten points on Election Day, but every subsequent ballot dump has favored Raman by a large margin.
The projection effectively ends Pratt’s campaign, which tapped into the reality TV star’s savvy social media background to push a message of change in a city plagued by chronic challenges, including homelessness, crime and an affordability crisis.
Under California’s system, the top two votegetters in the mayoral primary, regardless of party, secure a place in the November election if neither receives more than 50% of the vote. Bass already secured a spot in the runoff, according to projections.
On Sunday, Pratt joined many Republicans nationwide in questioning California’s painstakingly slow vote-counting process. He responded to a social media post stating that late-arriving mail ballots had shifted the race by more than 43,000 votes since Tuesday, comparing that figure to the number of people living on the streets.
&#8220;A net swing of more than 43,000 votes since Tuesday. &#8230; 43,000, huh? Where have I seen that number before? Probably nothing,&#8221; <a href="https://x.com/spencerpratt/status/2063784193688056310?s=20">Pratt said on X.</a>
He is not alone. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-walks-out-on-nbcs-welker-youre-either-crooked-or-youre-stupid?author=Virginia+Kruta&amp;category=undefined&amp;elementPosition=4&amp;row=3&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+News&amp;rowType=Vertical+Carousel&amp;title=Trump+Walks+Out+On+NBC%E2%80%99s+Welker%3A+%E2%80%98You%E2%80%99re+Either+Crooked+Or+You%E2%80%99re+Stupid%E2%80%99">President Donald Trump stormed out</a> of a ‘Meet the Press’ interview that aired Sunday over election integrity issues in California, ramping up his criticism he first expressed last week.
Trump took to Truth Social late Wednesday night and again on Thursday to accuse Democrats of election fraud, asking, “Why the vote counting DELAY???”
“Look what’s happening in California, the Dumocrats, right before our very eyes, are stealing the vote,” Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116693025089379568">posted</a> on Thursday.
Democrats deny accusations of fraud, pointing to California’s extensive vote-by-mail system and grace period for arriving ballots for the delay in results.
Pratt, a victim of the devastating January 2025 wildfires, captured national attention with a stronger-than-expected debate performance and viral advertisements railing against the city’s quality of life. He attempted to reach across party lines in a deep blue city where Republicans only make up <a href="https://tracker.politicaldata.com/?type=City&amp;value=CA+-+City+Of+Los+Angeles&amp;tab=1">15% of registered voters</a>.
An analysis by <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/06/05/us/elections/los-angeles-mayor-primary-results-precinct-map.html">The New York Times</a> found that Bass dominated South Los Angeles, while Pratt performed strongest in the Palisades and West Los Angeles. Raman, meanwhile, carried Silver Lake and much of the city’s Eastside.
Raman, who is aligned with the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-far-left-l-a-mayoral-candidate-breaks-down-in-tears">Democratic Socialists of America</a>, launched a last-minute challenge to Bass and campaigned to peel away support from the mayor’s Left flank. On Tuesday night, she fought back tears as she addressed supporters in downtown Los Angeles.
“I hope you know that everything every person in this room is fighting for in this campaign has been about building a city that’s worthy of you and every child in this city,” <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3Fiw800JNM">Raman said.</a>

Spencer Pratt’s Runoff Hopes Take A Hit As Socialist Rival Surges

News

As California continues counting votes from this week&#8217;s primary elections, the Department of Justice has launched multiple investigations into potential election fraud and plans to audit the state&#8217;s voter rolls.  
Bill Essayli, first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, announced the investigations Friday, saying his office is working with the FBI. 
“We will follow the evidence wherever it leads and prosecute any violations of federal election law to the fullest extent,” Essayli posted on X.
Essayli also said the Justice Department intends to audit California&#8217;s voter rolls. 
“The state has stonewalled every effort to verify that only eligible U.S. citizens are registered to vote,” he wrote. “This case is now before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Protecting the integrity of California’s elections is a top priority for my office.
California’s election system has serious structural vulnerabilities. Universal vote-by-mail with no voter ID requirements creates conditions where fraud can go undetected and unpunished, eroding…
— F.A. United States Attorney Bill Essayli (@USAttyEssayli) <a href="https://x.com/USAttyEssayli/status/2062889608787161176?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 5, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
A federal prosecutor also visited the Los Angeles County ballot processing center on Friday, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/doj-office-investigations-california-elections-trump-claims-cheating-rcna348746">according</a> to NBC News. A county spokesperson told the outlet the prosecutor participated in a walkthrough of ballot-processing operations, which are open to public observation.
The developments come as California election officials continue tabulating millions of outstanding ballots.
President Donald Trump accused California Democrats of attempting to “steal” elections multiple times this week, citing the state&#8217;s lengthy vote-counting process. Two big races remain unresolved: the gubernatorial and Los Angeles mayoral elections. 
“Look what’s happening in California, the Dumocrats, right before our very eyes, are stealing the Vote,” Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116693025089379568">wrote</a> on Truth Social Thursday.
With 68% of the gubernatorial vote <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-primary-elections/california-governor-results">reported</a> as of Saturday morning, Democrat Xavier Becerra has advanced to the November runoff in the general election with 26.78% of the vote. His opponent is still unknown, but Republican Steve Hilton narrowly trails Becerra with 26.35% support. Both were ahead of Democrat billionaire Tom Steyer, who is at 21.05%. Under California&#8217;s top-two primary system, candidates from the same party can advance to the runoff if they finish in first and second in the primary.
In the Los Angeles mayoral election, incumbent Democrat Mayor Karen Bass has been projected to advance to a runoff in the general election. As of Saturday morning, Bass has received 35.0% of the vote, with 71% of the vote <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-primary-elections/los-angeles-mayor-results">counted</a>.
Republican challenger Spencer Pratt is still in second with 28.2%, ahead of far-left Democrat Nithya Raman, who has been <a href="https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/la-mayor-election-spencer-pratt-nithya-raman/3900642/">closing in</a> on Pratt in recent days. She currently has 24.9% support.
In the L.A. mayoral race, two members of the same party can advance to the general election if neither receives more than 50% of the vote. Around three million votes have yet to be counted, and the state has 35 days for counties to process ballots, verify signatures, and let voters cure defective ballots.

U.S. DOJ Sends Observer To Watch California Primary Ballot Processing

DOJ Investigates California Election As Trump Warns Democrats Are Trying To ‘Steal’ It

Donald Trump

steve hilton

Tom Steyer

Vote Fraud

Xavier Becerra

The political climate in California is changing. The Golden State is seemingly on the cusp of a red wave in the Los Angeles mayoral and statewide gubernatorial races. Californians’ deep <a href="https://www.ppic.org/blog/wildfires-are-a-top-concern-for-californians/">concern about the prevalence</a> of high-intensity wildfires plaguing their state is a major reason why.
I previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/america-is-next-for-newsoms-failing-policy-experiments">argued</a> that Governor Gavin Newsom treated California as a policy laboratory for all kinds of radical regulatory experimentation and that the results were overwhelmingly negative. Now there are signs of a state-wide reckoning.
Polling indicates that California residents could put an end to the toxic mix of harmful policies crafted or enforced by Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Governor Newsom.
The L.A. mayoral race has put this dynamic on full display. Former reality TV star and political outsider Spencer Pratt has made the Palisades Fire, which occurred under Bass’s watch, a central issue in the race. That fire, started by a deranged arsonist, caused damages <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2025/01/22/3013659/0/en/Verisk-Estimates-Industry-Insured-Losses-for-the-Palisades-and-Eaton-Fires-Will-Fall-Between-USD-28-Billion-and-USD-35-Billion.html">estimated</a> at over $28 billion and killed dozens of people. Bass’s team oversaw a response that policy experts have <a href="https://www.hoover.org/research/could-palisades-fire-have-been-prevented-perhaps-cost-nearly-zero">criticized</a> as inadequate. At the time, the Washington Post editorial board argued that Bass’s city government “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2026/02/06/los-angeles-fires-karen-bass-lafd/">badly mishandled</a>” the response, and, perhaps worse, that Bass tried to sweep evidence of her bungled response under the rug.
Though it happened over a year ago, Spencer Pratt is not letting Bass off the hook for her role in the fire, which affected him personally. “If they didn’t burn my house down, I wouldn’t be running for mayor,” Pratt has <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?si=3doY2QVesH0YvxAa&amp;v=6DUhu_naEFY&amp;feature=youtu.be">said</a>. That strategy is working for Pratt. While still slightly trailing Bass in recent <a href="https://emersoncollegepolling.com/california-2026-poll-becerra-continues-to-surge-steyer-and-hilton-compete-for-second-spot/">polls</a>, Pratt is slated to face Bass in a runoff election in November.
Bass blamed climate change for the fires, which is no excuse for negligence. In fact, if Bass believes climate change is exacerbating wildfire risk, that arguably casts her in a worse light. If she believed that fires are now more likely to occur, due to climate change or any other reason, her decision to <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/01/08/us-news/la-mayor-karen-bass-cut-fire-department-funding-by-17-6m/">drastically reduce</a> the L.A. Fire Department budget by $17 million before the fire was especially inexcusable.
Bass not only refused to accept accountability but also attempted a cover-up. Bass reportedly <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2026/02/06/los-angeles-fires-karen-bass-lafd/">altered</a> an after-action report to downplay the role of poor political decisions in the fire’s impact. The original report, much of which Bass reportedly <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2026/02/06/los-angeles-fires-karen-bass-lafd/">quashed</a>, may have discussed the reservoir <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-01-10/as-flames-raged-in-palisades-a-key-reservoir-nearby-was-offline">drained ahead of the fire</a> that could have supplied 117 million gallons of water, and the <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-02-21/lafds-failure-to-pre-deploy-before-palisades-fire-a-times-investigation?utm_source=chatgpt.com">insufficient availability</a> of firefighters.
Solely focusing on Bass, though, misses the larger point: In California, ideologically driven leftist policies have prioritized environmental regulations over brush-clearing measures. Faster vegetation growth translates to higher fire risk.
Californians know this, but they have long faced an uphill battle in clearing brush from public land. As a general rule, California <a href="https://www.wsj.com/us-news/climate-environment/how-l-a-bureaucracy-made-it-harder-to-clear-flammable-brush-683f953e?mod=djem10point&amp;ref=pitchstonewaters.com">doesn’t clear brush</a> from public lands for environmental reasons, and residents must apply for a permit to do so — a lengthy and cumbersome process.
This is what happened in the Palisades Fire. Having not been cleared from public lands abutting residential areas, brush plants, which are evolutionarily engineered to burn, <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/the-morning-jolt/how-policy-decisions-exacerbated-the-devastating-los-angeles-wildfires/">contributed</a> to the fire’s rapid spread.
Californians know that politicians are at least partly to blame for mismanagement and poor policymaking that <a href="https://calmatters.org/environment/wildfires/2025/01/la-county-fires-wildland-urban-interface/#:~:text=The%20fire%20damaged%20or%20destroyed,a%20wildfire%20engulfs%20the%20neighborhood.">cost</a> over 20,000 of them their homes in the most recent major bout of wildfires in early 2025.
That is why Democrats are at risk of losing their grip on power in California at the gubernatorial level, too. Republican candidate Steve Hilton is surging in polls among Californians and could be the first Republican elected governor of California in two decades.
Hilton is not tiptoeing around challenging fire prevention issues. To the contrary, he is leaning in with ambitious <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/05/26/us-news/steve-hiltons-plan-for-first-100-days-if-elected-california-governor-is-wild/">proposals</a> to use remote sensing technology and drones to detect and stop fires before they spread out of control.
At the same time, Hilton has condemned California officials for putting ideology before people. Hilton has <a href="https://www.congress.gov/119/meeting/house/117864/witnesses/HHRG-119-JU05-Wstate-HiltonS-20250206.pdf">noted</a>, “the California Coastal Commission also blocked fire prevention and mitigation measures in the exact hills that just burned, in order to protect a few thousand specimens of the Braunton’s milkvetch shrub.” He also got Californians’ attention, with his <a href="https://www.congress.gov/event/119th-congress/house-event/LC74115/text">claim</a> that the L.A. wildfires were “not a natural disaster” but rather “a man-made disaster.” Thanks to common sense axioms like these, he is currently the <a href="https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2026/mar/30/republicans-get-surprise-opening-california-governors-race/">frontrunner</a> in the race, much to the chagrin and surprise of California’s Democratic establishment.
California is a solid blue state and has been for many years. A red wave there would mean a red wave could be possible anywhere. And apocalyptic scenes of wildfires, the most salient and striking example of policy failure in that state, are getting voters’ attention like never before.
***
Sydney Rodman is a visiting fellow with the Independent Women’s Center for Energy and Conservation.

Palisades fire

Don’t Overlook The Heat Source Behind California’s Red Wave

Gavin Newsom

Wildfires

Nearly 48 hours after the polls closed in California, the results of the gubernatorial primary and the Los Angeles mayor’s race remain unresolved as President Donald Trump has accused Democrats in the state of attempting to &#8220;steal&#8221; the elections.
With just 58% of the vote reported Thursday evening, Republican Steve Hilton still leads the gubernatorial primary with 27.2% support, ahead of Democrat Xavier Becerra at 25.9%. Both were ahead of billionaire Democrat Tom Steyer, who was at 20.1%. On Wednesday evening, 55% of the vote had been counted.
Despite Hilton’s lead, millions of ballots are still uncounted, making it too early to determine the final order of finish. Under California’s top-two primary system, candidates from the same party can advance to a runoff in November’s general election if they finish in the top two.
In the Los Angeles mayoral race, just 66% of the vote had been counted by Thursday evening, up from 62% from Wednesday evening. Incumbent Democrat Mayor Karen Bass still leads with 35.1% support, followed by Republican Spencer Pratt at 29.4%. Far-left Councilmember Nithya Raman was third with 23.4%.
The top two votegetters in the mayoral primary, regardless of party, secure a place in the November runoff if neither receives more than 50% of the vote. Bass has already secured a spot in the runoff, according to projections.
Trump took to Truth Social late Wednesday night and again on Thursday to accuse Democrats of election fraud, asking, &#8220;Why the vote counting DELAY???&#8221;
&#8220;Look what&#8217;s happening in California, the Dumocrats, right before our very eyes, are stealing the vote,&#8221; Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116693025089379568">posted</a> on Thursday.
Mayor Bass responded on X Thursday evening.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Trump only says this when MAGA candidates, like Spencer Pratt, start losing.
LA will count every vote. <a href="https://t.co/gNi5m13uq7">pic.twitter.com/gNi5m13uq7</a>
— Karen Bass (@KarenBassLA) <a href="https://x.com/KarenBassLA/status/2062644938710581401?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 4, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;Trump only says this when MAGA candidates, like Spencer Pratt, start losing,&#8221; she posted. &#8220;LA will count every vote.&#8221;
Delayed results are routine in California because of the state’s extensive vote-by-mail system, signature verification, and procedures for resolving ballot errors.
The final tally of California’s races could take as long as three weeks. Unlike many states that require mail ballots to arrive by Election Day, California accepts ballots that arrive up to 7 days later if postmarked on time. Then, those ballots have up to 7 days to reach a processing center. Counties must verify signatures, count provisional ballots, and allow voters to cure certain ballot defects before results are certified.

Primary Election Ballot Counting

California Still Counting Votes As Trump Says Democrats Are ‘Stealing’ Elections

The votes have not yet been fully counted in Los Angeles, but that has not stopped mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt from dropping a serious challenge on incumbent Mayor Karen Bass.
Pratt, who holds a seven-point lead over democratic socialist city councilwoman Nithya Raman, appears poised to hold onto second place and face Bass in a runoff in November&#8217;s general election, and he wants to debate her — weekly, if possible — until then.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Reporter: “Are you going to debate Karen Bass again?”
Spencer Pratt: “I love debating her on NBC. I look forward to a couple more on NBC and Fox. We can do debates every Friday if she would like. Because this actually became my most favorite thing to do.”
“So yes, as many… <a href="https://t.co/qkf7HiTSTh">pic.twitter.com/qkf7HiTSTh</a>
— RedWave Press (@RedWavePress) <a href="https://x.com/RedWavePress/status/2062134855001903575?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 3, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;Are you going to debate Karen Bass again?&#8221; a reporter asked Pratt on Tuesday evening outside his primary election night party. &#8220;And what do you want to tell her if she sees this?&#8221;
“I loved debating her on NBC. I look forward to a couple more on NBC, and Fox,&#8221; Pratt replied. &#8220;We can do debates every Friday if she would like, because it’s actually become my favorite thing to do. So, yes, as many debates as Mayor Bass would like.&#8221;
&#8220;What would you like to tell her now that it&#8217;s on?&#8221; the reporter asked.
“She knows it’s on. I hope she’s ready, you know, because I am — I literally could not be more excited,&#8221; the former MTV reality star added.
As the evening went on, Pratt voiced confidence that he would ultimately be the one to face Bass in November — and he declared that he was more than ready to do so: &#8220;I am ready for whatever God puts in front of me &#8230; I was going to be happy if I wasn’t moving forward, but now I feel very confident.&#8221;
As of Thursday morning, with <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-primary-elections/los-angeles-mayor-results">62% of the vote counted</a>, Bass was leading the field with 35% of the vote and had already been projected to move on to the runoff in the general election. Pratt followed with 29.9% of the vote, holding just over a seven-point lead on Raman, who had 22.8%.
The mail-in ballots, which are likely to favor Bass and Raman over Pratt, are what remain to be counted — and could take days, as signatures must be verified prior to the ballots being counted. If Bass succeeds in earning more than 50% of the vote, she could avoid a November runoff altogether. If she doesn&#8217;t, she will be the first incumbent Los Angeles mayor to be forced into a runoff in 21 years.

election night Spencer Pratt

The Votes Aren’t Even All Counted Yet, But Spencer Pratt Just Dropped A Challenge On Karen Bass

The Votes Aren't Even Counted Yet, But Spencer Pratt Just Dropped A Challenge On Karen Bass

Debate

Almost 24 hours after the polls closed in California, the results of the gubernatorial primary and the Los Angeles mayor&#8217;s race remain unresolved.
With just 55% of the vote reported on Wednesday evening, Republican Steve Hilton still leads the field of more than 60 candidates with 27.6% support, ahead of Democrat Xavier Becerra, who had 25.5%. Both were solidly ahead of billionaire Democrat Tom Steyer, who was at 19.7%.
Despite Hilton&#8217;s lead, millions of ballots remain uncounted, making it too early to determine the final order of finish. Under California&#8217;s top-two primary system, candidates from the same party can advance to a runoff in November&#8217;s general election if they finish in the top two.
In the Los Angeles mayoral race, 62% of the vote has been counted. Incumbent Democrat Mayor Karen Bass leads with 35% support, while Republican Spencer Pratt has received 29.9%. Far-left Councilmember Nithya Raman trailed with 22.8%. The top two votegetters in the mayoral primary, regardless of party, secure a place in the November 3 runoff if neither receives more than 50% of the vote. Bass has already secured a spot in the runoff, according to projections.
Bass would normally have a major advantage over other candidates, but discontent with her handling of the Palisades fire and the homeless crisis led Pratt to join the race, and he then resonated with many of the same sentiments felt by other Angelenos.
Delayed results are routine in California because of the state&#8217;s extensive vote-by-mail system, signature verification, and procedures for resolving ballot errors.
The final tally of California&#8217;s races could take as long as three weeks. Unlike many states that require mail ballots to arrive by Election Day, California accepts ballots that arrive up to 7 days later if postmarked on time. Then, those ballots have up to 7 days to reach a processing center. Counties must verify signatures, count provisional ballots, and allow voters to cure certain ballot defects before results are certified.
On Wednesday evening, CNN broadcast live shots from the Los Angeles County Registrar&#8217;s office, which handles 25% of the state&#8217;s votes. The large room appeared sparsely staffed at the time of the broadcast. A CNN reporter on the scene said they were on break.
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-1108755" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/LACounty-576x576.jpeg" alt="" width="576" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/LACounty-576x576.jpeg 576w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/LACounty-300x300.jpeg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/LACounty-150x150.jpeg 150w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/LACounty-768x768.jpeg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/LACounty-1536x1536.jpeg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/LACounty.jpeg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 576px) 100vw, 576px" /></div>

Nearly 24 Hours After The Polls Closed, California Is Still Counting Votes

vote

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass officially secured a spot in November&#8217;s runoff election, while reality television star Spencer Pratt and far-Left Councilmember Nithya Raman continued battling for the second slot.
With roughly 63% of the vote counted as of Wednesday morning, Bass led the field with 34.8% support, according to Associated Press results. Pratt was running second with 30.4%, while Raman trailed in third at 22.3%.
The Associated Press projected Bass would advance to the runoff. As of Wednesday morning, however, the race between Pratt and Raman had not yet been called.
&nbsp;

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&nbsp;
Pratt, however, was already talking like the runoff matchup had been set: Spencer Pratt versus Karen Bass.
&#8220;She knows it&#8217;s on. I hope she&#8217;s ready,&#8221; Pratt said Tuesday night when asked about a potential runoff against the incumbent mayor. &#8220;I literally could not be more excited.&#8221;
A few months ago, Pratt was viewed as a long-shot candidate. Now he appears within striking distance of becoming Bass&#8217; challenger in November.
&#8220;I was going to be happy if I wasn&#8217;t moving forward, but now I feel very confident,&#8221; he said.
The reality television star turned political outsider has built his campaign around voter frustration with homelessness, crime, and Bass&#8217; handling of the wildfire disaster that destroyed thousands of homes. Pratt lost both his own home and his childhood home in the fire.
And while election officials were still counting ballots, Pratt was already talking about what comes next.
&#8220;We have five months to put the best team the city could ever dream of,&#8221; he said.
Pratt argued that voters have rallied behind his campaign because they are tired of politicians and want someone willing to tell them the truth.
&#8220;At the end of the day, what&#8217;s been resonating is that people just want the truth and they want to know somebody&#8217;s heart,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I try to be as true to my authentic self and I just believe a lot of Los Angeles is so excited to hear from a non-politician.&#8221;
Pratt said voters are looking for a fighter.
&#8220;They want somebody to speak the truth for their communities and fight for them,&#8221; he said. &#8220;They want a fighter that&#8217;s going to step up when the city fails them or their elected leaders fail them and I&#8217;m ready to be that person for Los Angeles.&#8221;
He also couldn&#8217;t resist taking a shot at Raman, who spent much of the campaign fighting him for second place.
&#8220;The communist already lost,&#8221; Pratt said.
Thousands of ballots remain uncounted, and election officials will continue processing votes in the coming days.
If the current results hold, Los Angeles could be headed toward one of the most unexpected mayoral runoffs in recent memory: Karen Bass versus Spencer Pratt.
Pratt made it clear he&#8217;s ready for that possibility.
&#8220;We can do debates every Friday if she&#8217;d like,&#8221; he said. &#8220;As many debates as Mayor Bass would like.&#8221;

karen_spencer_nithya

One Candidate Advances In Heated L.A. Mayor’s Race — Second Spot Still Up For Grabs

Election

All eyes turn to California on Tuesday as voters weigh the political future of Los Angeles Democratic Mayor Karen Bass and choose two finalists who will compete to succeed Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, a potential 2028 presidential candidate. 
Election Day marks the end of a rollercoaster primary season defined by wild twists and turns, scandals, and viral fumbles. 
The contest started with an unusually crowded and wide-open field after former Vice President Kamala Harris turned down the opportunity to lead the Golden State. Political analysts believed Democrats would have cleared the field as a goodwill gesture following her wipeout defeat against President Donald Trump.  
&nbsp;
One by one, Republicans and Democrats threw their hats into the ring, including Republicans Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco, plus Democrats Tom Steyer, Eric Swalwell, Katie Porter, Xavier Becerra, Matt Mahan, Antonio Villaraigosa, Betty Yee, Tony Thurmond, and several others. 
The first major shakeup came when a leaked viral video showed former Rep. Porter (D-CA) berating a congressional staffer, a controversy that has significantly set back her campaign.
“<a href="https://x.com/Breaking911/status/1976054425685983327?s=20">Get out of my f*cking shot</a>,” Porter shouted at a staff member when making a video message for the Biden administration. The leftist, who made a name for herself by grilling billionaires with her whiteboard in Congress, has failed to catch any momentum since. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
&#8220;GET OUT OF MY FUCKING SHOT!&#8221;
Video shows Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) chastising staffer in newly leaked video
<a href="https://t.co/COKJSv3yQ7">pic.twitter.com/COKJSv3yQ7</a>
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) <a href="https://x.com/Breaking911/status/1976054425685983327?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 8, 2025</a></blockquote>
Eric Swalwell, the former Bay Area congressman, capitalized on Porter’s collapse in the polls. He quickly amassed key Democratic endorsements and was widely viewed as the race’s frontrunner.
But his hopes to lead California came crashing down following explosive allegations of sexual harassment and assault. Multiple campaign staffers accused their boss of sending sexually explicit social media messages and inappropriate behavior beyond the halls of Congress. Days later, he dropped his gubernatorial bid and resigned from Congress ahead of an expected expulsion vote. A <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/swalwell-accuser-claims-dem-drugged-choked-and-raped-her?author=Jacob+Wheeler&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=99&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Swalwell+Accuser+Claims+Dem+Drugged%2C+Choked%2C+And+Raped+Her">fifth woman then accused Swalwell of rape</a> in 2018, alleging the lawmaker drugged and raped her in Southern California. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
I am suspending my campaign for Governor.
To my family, staff, friends, and supporters, I am deeply sorry for mistakes in judgment I’ve made in my past.
I will fight the serious, false allegations that have been made — but that’s my fight, not a campaign’s.
— Eric Swalwell (@ericswalwell) <a href="https://x.com/ericswalwell/status/2043488502327972096?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 13, 2026</a></blockquote>
As polling showed <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/even-after-shivving-swalwell-democrats-arent-home-free-in-california-governors-race?author=Jacob+Wheeler&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=97&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Even+After+Shivving+Swalwell%2C+Democrats+Aren%E2%80%99t+Home+Free+In+California+Governor%E2%80%99s+Race">Republicans could lock out Democrats</a>, blue voters have appeared to consolidate behind two candidates: Former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and billionaire Tom Steyer, who has poured nearly $200 million of his own money into the race, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/california-governor-tom-steyer-billionaire-advertising-ed00b8f4ef4fcfa3b30bc8864a7873bb">according to the Associated Press.</a> 
Dan Schnur, who teaches political communications at USC and UC Berkeley, said Left-leaning voters appear spooked by the Swalwell scandal. 
“Becerra is this year&#8217;s version of the Biden 2020 campaign. He is a stable, reassuring presence, and that seems to have attracted voters, Democratic voters who are worried about less familiar objects,” Schnur told The Daily Wire. “Eric Swalwell was, it was a near-death experience for California Democrats.”
Biden&#8217;s former HHS chief went viral for demanding a glowing profile from a local television reporter.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Awkward moment kicks off KTLA interview with Xavier Becerra. <a href="https://x.com/CaliforniaICP?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CaliforniaICP</a> Full report: <a href="https://t.co/UcMXzidzrf">https://t.co/UcMXzidzrf</a> <a href="https://t.co/OViYkfTg3t">pic.twitter.com/OViYkfTg3t</a>
— KTLA (@KTLA) <a href="https://x.com/KTLA/status/2054225112979612081?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 12, 2026</a></blockquote>
Trump-endorsed Steve Hilton, a businessman and former Fox News host, has consolidated much of the Republican vote. However, Republican Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco still has a durable base of about 9-12%, according to most polls. 
Under California’s “jungle primary” system, the top two vote-getters advance to the general election in November regardless of party.
“What he needs more than anything else is for Bianco voters to decide they should not let their perfect be the enemy of the good,” Schnur said. “There are a finite number of Republicans in California. The more they split their vote, the less likely either one of their candidates moves on to the general election.” 
In the Los Angeles mayoral race that has captured national attention, former reality television star and community advocate Spencer Pratt is challenging incumbent Mayor Bass and far-Left Councilmember Nithya Raman.
Pratt, a victim of the devastating January 2025 wildfires, has tapped into his savvy social media background to drive a message of change in a city plagued by chronic challenges, including homelessness, crime, and skyrocketing prices. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
They not like us <a href="https://t.co/78hducHDUE">pic.twitter.com/78hducHDUE</a>
— Spencer Pratt (@spencerpratt) <a href="https://x.com/spencerpratt/status/2049497051793412557?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 29, 2026</a></blockquote>
Republicans <a href="https://tracker.politicaldata.com/?type=City&amp;value=CA+-+City+Of+Los+Angeles&amp;tab=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">make up only 15% of registered voters</a> in Los Angeles, but most polls suggest Pratt is exceeding that share. 
The top two will also advance to the November election. For months, Bass has stalled at or below 30% in most polls, putting the incumbent mayor in an “extraordinarily vulnerable place.” 
“It wouldn&#8217;t be that surprising to see her finish third and get left out,” Schnur said. “Angelenos made up their minds about her after the wildfires. Fairly or not, they decided that she wasn&#8217;t up to the job.” 
Polls in the Golden State close at 8 p.m. local time. Given the state’s notoriously slow vote-counting process, it remains unclear whether races with national implications will be called Tuesday night.
“California has become the leader of the resistance in a deeply divided country, so for voters in other parts of the country who want a sense of how the Democratic party will move forward in a post-Trump era, this could be very valuable of early indicators,” Schnur said.

Powerful Winds Fuel Multiple Fires Across Los Angeles Area

Scandals, Fumbles, And Millions: California’s Wild Primary Ends Tonight

Democrats

Katie Porter

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