Three days after Election Day, California's primary results remain in limbo, with experts cautioning that the final tally could take weeks to materialize. The state's most competitive races, including the governor's seat and Los Angeles mayoral runoff, hang in the balance as county officials work through a mounting backlog of uncounted ballots.
Conservative commentator Steve Hilton holds a narrow lead in the gubernatorial race with roughly 60 percent of ballots counted as of Friday morning. Former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra trails close behind, while billionaire Tom Steyer remains in third. Under California's top-two primary system, the two frontrunners will face each other in November's general election.
In Los Angeles, Mayor Karen Bass has secured her spot in the runoff, but her opponent remains uncertain. Spencer Pratt, the former reality television personality, currently leads progressive city councillor Nithya Raman with approximately 65 percent of votes counted. That gap could narrow significantly before final results emerge.
The extended counting timeline stems partly from voting patterns that emerged this cycle. Republicans historically return ballots early or vote in person on election day, meaning their ballots get tallied first. Democrats, by contrast, held onto their ballots longer this year as they calculated which candidate possessed the strongest path to advance. That shift has left the final vote tally heavily weighted toward outstanding Democratic ballots.
"What compounds things this time around is that Democrats have been holding on to their ballots," said Richard Hasen, a law professor at UCLA.
State law requires counties to complete counting by June 15, though mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day and received by June 9 remain eligible for processing beyond that deadline. Last year, Governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation pushing the deadline forward from 30 days to 13 days, an acceleration that hasn't prevented the current slowdown.
Trump weighed in from the Oval Office on Thursday, declaring victory for Hilton while leveling accusations of election rigging against California. He claimed the Department of Justice would investigate the counting process. "Those numbers are coming down rapidly. They found a lot of mail-in ballots last night, shockingly. We don't want that," Trump said, suggesting impropriety without evidence.
Newsom's office responded with a video from CNN explaining California's commitment to accuracy and accessibility over speed. "For the record: we wish the votes were counted faster, too," the governor's team posted.
Marc Berman, the Democratic state assemblymember who authored the counting acceleration bill, dismissed Trump's claims as "a lie." He emphasized that the state's priority remains ensuring every validly cast ballot receives a count, even as Republicans weaponize the delay in pursuit of policies like stricter voter ID requirements.
Hilton himself criticized what he called "just another shambles brought to you by California Democrats" in a video posted to social media, though he indicated his campaign expects no legal challenges based on what it has observed so far.
Several congressional races remain too tight to call. In California's Sixth District, a seat redrawn to favor Democrats, independent Kevin Kiley holds the lead, with Republican Michael Stansfield in second and Democrat Richard Pan narrowly behind, tens of thousands of ballots still outstanding.
Author James Rodriguez: "Trump's premature victory lap and baseless fraud claims reveal how he weaponizes election administration delays to undermine faith in democracy itself."
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