Billionaire Elon Musk and President Donald Trump amplified unsubstantiated claims about the Los Angeles mayoral primary this week after progressive City Councilmember Nithya Raman overtook reality television personality Spencer Pratt in the race for a spot in November’s runoff election.
The controversy emerged as California election officials continued counting mail-in and late-arriving ballots following the June 2 primary. Initial results had placed Pratt, a Republican-aligned candidate backed by many in the MAGA movement, ahead of Raman. But subsequent vote counts showed Raman gradually closing the gap before moving into second place behind incumbent Mayor Karen Bass.
READ: Nithya Raman advances in Los Angeles mayoral race, echoing Zohran Mamdani’s rise (June 9, 2026)
Musk used his social media platform X to amplify several posts alleging irregularities in the vote count. Among them were claims that Raman’s gains were a “statistical impossibility” and suggestions that ballot updates indicated fraud. He also shared posts questioning whether Los Angeles election results could be trusted.
Trump echoed those concerns on Truth Social, claiming without evidence that Democrats were attempting to “steal” California elections from Republican candidates. After Pratt fell to third place, Trump wrote that there was “No way this could have happened. Rigged Election!”.
Election officials and independent fact-checkers, however, rejected the claims.
According to Los Angeles County election authorities and federal prosecutors reviewing the allegations, the controversy stemmed largely from misunderstandings about how vote updates were reported. One widely shared claim alleged that Pratt received zero votes in a batch of roughly 24,000 ballots. Officials said that assertion was false and resulted from a temporary reporting lag rather than missing votes.
READ: Nithya Raman overtakes Spencer Pratt for second place in LA mayoral race (June 8, 2026)
Bill Essayli, the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney overseeing election-related inquiries in Los Angeles, said official records showed Pratt received votes in every update released by county election officials.
The race ultimately ended with Bass receiving 34.3% of the vote, Raman securing 28.6%, and Pratt finishing third at 25.8%, according to results cited by the Associated Press. Raman will now face Bass in the November runoff.
With prominent political figures and business leaders weighing in online before vote counting is complete, election officials increasingly find themselves responding not only to ballots but also to viral narratives spreading in real time.