Topline
Elon Musk backed reality star Spencer Pratt’s suggestions on Thursday that the mail-in voting system “could be” rife with widespread fraud after Pratt recently failed to advance to a runoff in the Los Angeles mayor’s race when mail-in ballots counted after Election Day swung the race in his opponents’ favor.
Los Angeles Mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt is seen speaking with the media outside Don Antonio’s restaurant on June 02, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by HIGHFIVE/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)
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Key Facts
Musk reposted a 10-minute video message from Pratt discussing the “Red Mirage” phenomenon when early election results tend to favor Republicans, only to swing in favor of Democrats when mail-in ballots are counted, since Democrats historically vote by mail in larger proportions than Republicans.
“California has legalized election fraud,” Musk wrote in reposting the video.
Pratt held second-place, and was more than 40,000 votes ahead of LA City Council member Nithya Raman, a Democrat, in the days after Election Day, but she leaped ahead of him when mail-in ballots were counted and advanced to a runoff against incumbent Mayor Karen Bass.
Pratt conceded the race, but has promoted the idea that there’s some unfairness in absentee voting, saying in his video Thursday, “an anomalous statistical spike like this is evidence of fraud . . . it may not necessarily be proof of fraud, but it is certainly evidence of fraud.”
Pratt made numerous incendiary suggestions in an ironic tone, noting Raman gained about 43,000 votes after Election Day, which, Pratt said, “just happens to be the exact number of homeless people on the streets in LA” (there is no evidence there was a mail-in ballot scheme coordinated among the homeless population).
Pratt went on to mock what he called a “janky, inefficient system” and the the anti-election fraud protections in place: “it’s like a bank heist but California has no law that you can lock the bank vault, you’re not allowed to have security cameras, and you can’t count the money inside the vault. Robbing the bank is still 100% illegal, but there’s no way to stop it from happening.”
Tangent
President Donald Trump baselessly declared the Los Angeles mayor’s race was “rigged” and urged Pratt not to “go away quietly.” Trump also claimed, without evidence, that California’s GOP gubernatorial nominee, former Fox News host Steve Hilton, was “cheated” out of votes.
Key Background
Musk has repeatedly promoted claims of election fraud in the LA’s mayor’s race, baselessly suggesting Democrats were engaged in fraud. In one post, he amplified a claim that Pratt had received 0 votes in an overnight drop of 24,000 ballots, an allegation debunked by the Justice Department, which said publicly it reviewed official county records and each candidate received votes in every update. The claim originated when some news organizations published staggered updates of vote tallies, first showing Raman and Bass receiving tens of thousands of new votes, then updating the page to show Pratt receiving tens of thousands of new votes. Some observers, however, took screenshots of the update before Pratt’s votes were accounted for.
further reading
Musk Joins Trump In Boosting Unsubstantiated Claims About LA Mayor Election As Pratt Drops To Third (Forbes)
Trump Baselessly Accuses Democrats Of ‘Stealing’ California Primaries (Forbes)
Spencer Pratt Fails To Advance In Los Angeles Mayor’s Race (Forbes)