Donald Trump faults Spencer Pratt for third-place finish in the LA mayor primary, claims it was a ‘rigged’ election: ‘he didn’t protest’

President Donald Trump has faulted former reality TV star Spencer Pratt for not challenging his third-place finish in the Los Angeles mayoral primary. Trump claimed he told Pratt the election was “rigged.” He told Salem News Channel, “Well, Pratt did a great job. He ran great,” and then added, “He didn’t protest,” as reported by Reality Tea.

Pratt finished behind Mayor Karen Bass and City Councilmember Nithya Raman in the June 2 primary. The 43-year-old former star of The Hills ran as a Republican and built much of his campaign around getting attention online.

Pratt struck a defiant tone right after the results came in. In an Instagram video titled “Saving L.A.,” he told his followers, “It’s war,” and asked, “You thought you could get rid of me that easily?”

Pratt kept talking after the loss

Pratt claimed he ran to expose what he called a corrupt machine, not to gain political power. In the same video, he called Bass and Raman “two morons” and “two corrupt communists.” He said the loss freed him to speak more openly because he no longer had a campaign to “hamstring” him.

The primary also drew rumors about how votes were counted. One claim said an election night update showed Pratt getting zero new votes. It was pushed on X by several right-wing figures, including Elon Musk, as GOP lawmakers echoed rigged election claims.

First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli, a Trump appointee, addressed the rumor on X. “We reviewed official county records. The claim is false. Each candidate received votes in every update,” he wrote.

The confusion came from a lag in the automated feed used by The Associated Press. The AP said votes for one group of candidates, including Bass and Raman, were added in one update. Votes for another group, including Pratt, followed about a minute later. Together, those updates included 21,870 votes for Pratt, 12,850 for Bass, and 9,521 for Raman.

California’s slow count is built into its system. Mail ballots make up around 80 percent of votes in the state, and ballots postmarked by Election Day can arrive up to seven days later, according to Time.

Democrats tend to vote by mail more often, which helps explain why results often shift after election night. Bass and Raman advanced to the runoff, and Raman went on to defeat Bass in the November 3 general election, held the same night as the GOP’s heavy midterm losses.