United StatesEconomyOverlooked from the left12 days ago

Trump, Megyn Kelly fuel LA election fraud doubts; Pratt was always doomed

The article discusses growing concerns among some conservatives regarding potential election fraud in the Los Angeles mayoral race, particularly focusing on the performance of candidate Spencer Pratt. It highlights comments from former President Donald Trump, who has labeled the election 'crooked,' and Megyn Kelly, who advocates for eliminating mail-in voting, arguing that voters who cannot attend polling places in person are 'lazy.' The article also notes that California's slower vote count is attributed to its reliance on mail-in voting rather than evidence of systemic issues.

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The race for Los Angeles mayor is headed toward November, with Decision Desk HQ projecting that City Councilmember Nithya Raman will face incumbent Mayor Karen Bass in the general election.

But instead of asking why Spencer Pratt appears to have fallen short in the primary, some conservatives are looking for someone — or something — to blame. The president is already calling the election “ crooked ” and Megyn Kelly thinks California should get rid of mail-in voting completely.

“I don’t care how convenient you want to make it for people, do we really want to make it that convenient? I mean, these are lazy-ass people if they really can’t get off their fat asses and get to election polling stations on Election Day,” said Kelly. “We don’t want you, we don’t want your vote. Who gives a s–t about you, you’re too lazy, too busy to make it down to a polling station on Election Day? Then get out, good, goodbye, you don’t get to vote.”

So, take away folks’ right to vote if they do it by mail? The president just voted by mail in March. Sorry to break it to you, Megyn, but California’s slower vote count isn’t proof that something is wrong with the election system. It’s largely a reflection of how the state conducts elections.

California relies heavily on mail-in voting. That means election officials must verify signatures, process envelopes, inspect ballots, and follow a lengthy chain of security procedures before votes are officially counted. State leaders have long argued that the goal is to make voting accessible while maintaining election integrity. And while it’s true that states like Colorado and Arizona often report results more quickly despite widespread mail voting, California isn’t exactly a fair comparison. Nearly 40 million people live in California . Colorado has about 6 million residents ; Arizona has roughly 8 million .

That’s a massive difference in scale.

Different counties in California also operate with different staffing levels, budgets and labor agreements. Processing ballots for a state of nearly 40 million people simply requires more time, manpower and resources than processing ballots in states with populations a fraction of that size.

There’s also another explanation for Pratt’s apparent loss that has nothing to do with mail ballots. He’s a registered Republican who attempted to run in overwhelmingly Democratic Los Angeles as an independent, despite President Trump previously describing him as “a big MAGA person.” That’s a difficult political path in a city and state where Democrats dominate elections.

We’ve seen this movie before. In 2022, Rick Caruso spent more than $100 million trying to win Los Angeles’a mayoral race and still lost. The last Republican mayor in Los Angeles left office in 2001 . California hasn’t elected a Republican to statewide office since 2006 , and Democratic voters continue to significantly outnumber registered Republicans.

Yet Pratt is still not throwing in the towel.

He posted on X : “Folks, we’re dealing with a fraction of a percentage point difference, there’s still hundreds of thousands of votes outstanding, and LA officials have given us the next 3 weeks to count! Let’s git-r-dun!”

To be clear, every candidate has the right to wait for all legally cast ballots to be counted before declaring victory or defeat. But what stands out is how quickly conversations about election administration become conversations about election legitimacy whenever the outcome isn’t what some people expected. Losing an election and proving an election was stolen are two very different things.

In a democracy, candidates are entitled to compete. They’re entitled to question procedures. They’re entitled to await final results. What they’re not entitled to do is treat disappointment as evidence of fraud.

Come on, there has to be a better tactic than, ‘If you can’t beat em, accuse them of cheating.’

Lindsey Granger is a NewsNation contributor and co-host of The Hill’s commentary show “Rising.” This column is an edited transcription of her on-air commentary.

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The HillIndependentRight12 days ago

Trump, Megyn Kelly fuel LA election fraud doubts; Pratt was always doomed

Bias read (Right): The article frames the discussion around election integrity through the lens of conservative critics like Trump and Megyn Kelly, emphasizing their claims of fraud and criticism of mail-in voting. The tone suggests skepticism toward the legitimacy of mail-in ballots without providing balanced counter