Trump Raises Alarm Over California Vote Delays as Republican Candidates Surge in Key Primaries

President Donald Trump is warning that California’s drawn-out vote-counting process could be opening the door to serious election concerns after two Republican candidates delivered surprisingly strong performances in the state’s high-profile primaries for governor and Los Angeles mayor.

In a Thursday post on Truth Social, President Trump accused Democrats of benefiting from delays in the vote tally.

“There’s BIG cheating by the Dumocrats in California. Votes are all tied up. May not be in for weeks,” he wrote on Truth Social on Thursday.

“Under investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles. Why the vote counting DELAY???” Trump wrote.

The president’s comments came after another Truth Social post in which he directly pointed to the late arrival and counting of mail-in ballots.

“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,” Trump posted.

“Here we go with the very late and massive numbers of MAIL IN BALLOTS,” he wrote.

The concern comes as early results showed Republicans performing far better than California’s deep-blue political reputation would suggest.

In the governor’s primary, Republican Steve Hilton led the field with 27.6 percent of the vote, according to NBC News, which had not yet called the race with only 56 percent of ballots counted. Democrat Xavier Becerra trailed in second place with 25.6 percent.

The Los Angeles mayoral primary also delivered a political jolt. With 62 percent of the vote counted, incumbent Democrat Karen Bass led with 35 percent, according to NBC News. Republican Spencer Pratt followed closely with 29.9 percent, while Democrat Nithya Raman stood in third place with 22.8 percent.

Under California’s primary system, the top two finishers advance to the general election, regardless of party. That means a strong Republican showing in either race could reshape the political battlefield in a state long dominated by Democrats.

California’s election process has repeatedly drawn criticism because of its slow vote-counting timeline, especially when compared with other states that report results far more quickly.

Prominent pollster Nate Silver blasted the Golden State’s procedures on Monday, arguing that Americans should not be forced to wait weeks to know who won an election.

The FiveThirtyEight founder posted several messages on X late Monday night, criticizing California’s prolonged count and comparing the state’s system to what is seen in dysfunctional foreign governments.

“The fact that California elections often can’t be resolved for weeks is kind of insane and not common in other electoral systems around the world,” Silver wrote, later calling the incompetence an example of “learned helplessness.”

Silver added that it should not take “several weeks” to determine a winner, saying the practice “should be more stigmatized.”

The criticism follows the 2024 presidential election, when California continued counting votes well into December after the Nov. 5 contest.

For conservatives, the latest delays are likely to intensify long-standing concerns over mail-in voting, ballot processing, and election transparency in Democrat-run states. With Republican candidates showing unexpected strength in both the governor’s race and the Los Angeles mayoral primary, President Trump’s warning has placed renewed national attention on whether California’s election system can deliver results that voters trust.