Election 2026

Socialist Los Angeles City Councilwoman Nithya Raman appeared to concede defeat Tuesday night after it looked like Spencer Pratt would advance to the November runoff election against incumbent Mayor Karen Bass. But then votes kept pouring in days after the Tuesday election, and by Sunday evening, Raman had taken the lead over Pratt.

The 180-degree-turn has left many scratching their heads: How does a candidate who was down by roughly 40,000 votes suddenly jump to second place after she herself publicly signaled her path to victory had all but disappeared? (Raman currently leads Pratt by more than 20,000 votes, after post-election ballot dumps have gone overwhelmingly in her favor.)

For NBC’s Meet the Press host Kristen Welker, however, questions about such outcomes are apparently evidence of nothing more than public ignorance. During a Sunday interview, President Donald Trump said the 2020 election was “rigged” (and he’s right — but more on that later) and that the same rigging is happening in California.

President Donald Trump has criticized California for its vote-counting delay in the gubernatorial and Los Angeles mayoral races, accusing the state’s Democratic leaders of “BIG cheating.”

While California polls closed at 8 p.m. local time on Tuesday, that state’s counting appears to remain at a standstill as of Thursday morning.

‘Here we go with the very late and massive numbers of MAIL IN BALLOTS.’

Only 56% of the votes have been counted in the race for governor and 62% in the mayoral election, according to the Associated Press. This is a 2% decrease for both races compared to Wednesday morning.

In the race to replace Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, former Fox News host and small-business owner Steve Hilton (R) currently holds a slight lead over former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra (D), and climate advocate and businessman Tom Steyer (D) remains in third position.