California Still Counting Votes As Trump Says Democrats Are ‘Stealing’ Elections

Nearly 48 hours after the polls closed in California, the results of the gubernatorial primary and the Los Angeles mayor’s race remain unresolved as President Donald Trump has accused Democrats in the state of attempting to “steal” the elections. With just 58% of the vote reported Thursday evening, Republican Steve Hilton still leads the gubernatorial ...

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Nearly 48 hours after the polls closed in California, the results of the gubernatorial primary and the Los Angeles mayor’s race remain unresolved as President Donald Trump has accused Democrats in the state of attempting to “steal” the elections.

With just 58% of the vote reported Thursday evening, Republican Steve Hilton still leads the gubernatorial primary with 27.2% support, ahead of Democrat Xavier Becerra at 25.9%. Both were ahead of billionaire Democrat Tom Steyer, who was at 20.1%. On Wednesday evening, 55% of the vote had been counted.

Despite Hilton’s lead, millions of ballots are still uncounted, making it too early to determine the final order of finish. Under California’s top-two primary system, candidates from the same party can advance to a runoff in November’s general election if they finish in the top two.

In the Los Angeles mayoral race, just 66% of the vote had been counted by Thursday evening, up from 62% from Wednesday evening. Incumbent Democrat Mayor Karen Bass still leads with 35.1% support, followed by Republican Spencer Pratt at 29.4%. Far-left Councilmember Nithya Raman was third with 23.4%.

The top two votegetters in the mayoral primary, regardless of party, secure a place in the November runoff if neither receives more than 50% of the vote. Bass has already secured a spot in the runoff, according to projections.

Trump took to Truth Social late Wednesday night and again on Thursday to accuse Democrats of election fraud, asking, “Why the vote counting DELAY???”

“Look what’s happening in California, the Dumocrats, right before our very eyes, are stealing the vote,” Trump posted on Thursday.

Mayor Bass responded on X Thursday evening.

Trump only says this when MAGA candidates, like Spencer Pratt, start losing.

LA will count every vote. pic.twitter.com/gNi5m13uq7

— Karen Bass (@KarenBassLA) June 4, 2026

“Trump only says this when MAGA candidates, like Spencer Pratt, start losing,” she posted. “LA will count every vote.”

Delayed results are routine in California because of the state’s extensive vote-by-mail system, signature verification, and procedures for resolving ballot errors.

The final tally of California’s races could take as long as three weeks. Unlike many states that require mail ballots to arrive by Election Day, California accepts ballots that arrive up to 7 days later if postmarked on time. Then, those ballots have up to 7 days to reach a processing center. Counties must verify signatures, count provisional ballots, and allow voters to cure certain ballot defects before results are certified.