Donald Trump has alleged without evidence that Democrats are cheating in California’s primaries, claiming in a late-night social media post that the US attorney’s office in Los Angeles was investigating. The president’s unfounded remarks are likely to further alarm election observers, who have warned of the risk of escalating misinformation as counting continues in the most populous US state, home to more than 23 million registered voters.
At 12.48am on Thursday, Trump posted on Truth Social: “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.” He added 17 minutes later: “There’s BIG cheating by the Dumocrats in California. Votes are all tied up. May not be in for weeks. Under investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles. Why the vote counting DELAY??? President DJT.”
The US attorney’s office declined to comment on Trump’s claim that his allegations were under investigation. The Department of Justice in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Speaking to reporters later on Thursday, Trump doubled down, asserting that election officials had “found a lot of mail-in ballots last night, shockingly”. Mail-in ballots typically account for about 80% of votes in California and can be counted up to a week after election day if postmarked by then.
California uses a “jungle” primary where the top two vote-getters advance regardless of party. A field of 61 candidates fragmented the vote for governor, with Republicans coalescing around Steve Hilton, who is locked in a tight contest with Xavier Becerra and Tom Steyer. Mail-in ballots tend to favour Democrats, who outnumber Republicans nearly two to one in voter registration, and it remains possible that Hilton may drop to third place as more votes are tallied. The last Republican to win the California governorship was Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006.
California Governor Gavin Newsom’s press office responded on X: “Trump is lying about California again – time to take the phone away from grandpa and put him to sleep.” Last month, Newsom warned that a long vote count invites disingenuous accusations of misconduct, saying: “We must acknowledge that the longer the vote count takes, the more mis- and dis-information spreads.” Election observers echoed these concerns, with Mike DuHaime of the Democracy Defense Project stating: “Prolonged delays in ballot tabulation can undermine public trust and create unnecessary uncertainty.”
