Democrat Nithya Raman overtook Republican Spencer Pratt in the Los Angeles mayoral primary. Pratt had been favored to advance from the primary as recently as election night, but he now has almost no chance of victory. The top two candidates, Raman and incumbent mayor Karen Bass, will advance.
Raman’s victory came as a surprise to many. Pratt had a solid lead on election night, but California’s notorious “red mirage”, where Republican candidates look stronger in the early vote, was exceptionally strong this year. Many Democrats held off on voting until election day, in an attempt to ensure that a lockout would not occur in the gubernatorial primary.
Raman found huge success in late mail ballots and election day votes, which propelled her and closed the massive 8 point gap between her and Pratt. Pratt had achieved national attention for gaining unusually large popularity in a blue city, following a successful ad campaign aimed at Karen Bass.
The results of this election did not come as a surprise to many political commentators, who rightfully assumed that Pratt's lead would disintegrate after election day votes were counted. However, Republicans across the country have claimed that this election was the result of voter fraud that artificially boosted Raman’s votes. While their claims of voter fraud are unsubstantiated, they do reveal problems with California’s voting system.
California’s vote counting system is exceptionally slow, which allowed for the mayor election to be viewed as fraudulent. In 2024, one county in California had only reported one third of its votes, 10 days after the election. It takes weeks to see the results of California elections, which allows for criticism and suspicion of fraud.
California also has a huge number of mail in votes, which take significantly longer to count than ballots submitted on election day. Many voting offices have criticised California for not providing enough funding to hire personnel.
Gavin Newsom recently signed a law requiring that counties must count most votes within 13 days of an election. While this is a step in the right direction, it is clear that California must take more drastic measures to improve the counting system and ensure that elections are viewed as free and fair.
While Raman’s win was not the result of voter fraud, it will certainly draw attention from many detractors who will claim that California’s elections are rigged by Democrats. This disenfranchises politicians, voters, and anyone involved in the electoral process. California must be sure that slow elections will not continue in 2026, or the presidential election in 2028.