Republicans cry fraud in Los Angeles because they’re sore losers
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/6/14/800054481/series/republicans-cry-fraud-los-angeles-sore-losers/
Republicans cry fraud in Los Angeles because they’re sore losers
Congressional Cowards is a weekly series highlighting the worst Donald Trump defenders on Capitol Hill, who refuse to criticize him—no matter how disgraceful or lawless his actions.
Republicans lost the Los Angeles mayoral election this week when their MAGA-aligned, D-List reality TV personality Spencer Pratt failed to advance to the general election—a predictable outcome in a city that hasn’t had a GOP mayor in more than 25 years.
But because Republicans believe that any election they lose is the product of a conspiracy rather than voters simply not liking them, they’ve followed in the footsteps of President Donald Trump: spreading lies about voter fraud.
“Some of these efforts are so diabolical and so far upstream, it’s impossible to prove. But I think everybody knows instinctively that something is wrong here,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said Monday.
By that logic, would Democrats be justified in saying that the 2024 election was rigged because “instinctively” it just felt “wrong” that anyone would vote for a corrupt, self-dealing idiot?
Johnson wasn’t the only Republican to make idiotic and dangerous allegations of fraud in response to Pratt’s loss.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise also alleged that the California election was “rigged” because of “wide changes after election night in the results.” When he was told that the election results changed simply because votes were being counted, Scalise refused to accept reality and continued to push lies.
“Whether you can prove fraud or not, it does undermine voter integrity in the vote,” Scalise said.
Meanwhile, GOP Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida, who is running for governor, spread fraud lies to try to boost support for the SAVE Act—a voter suppression bill that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote, which, ironically, would likely make it harder for Republicans to vote.
“Blue states can and will undermine elections in real time,” Donalds wrote on X. “This is why we need the SAVE America Act—now more than ever.”
But it wasn’t just House Republicans who pushed the lies. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas also got in on the baseless fraud allegations.
“Apparently in California, vote counting keeps going until I guess [Democrats] get the result they want. It is messed up,” Cruz said on his podcast.
Similarly, Sen. Mike Lee of Utah said that the results were proof that the GOP-controlled Congress needs to pass his SAVE Act.
“In light of the stunningly improbable LA mayoral election results, the Senate should turn immediately to the SAVE America Act. And keep debating it until it passes. Literally nothing is more important,” Lee wrote on X.
Related | LA mayoral race shows how Trump plans to mess with midterms
Sen. Rick Scott of Florida took it a step further, sending a letter to the Department of Justice urging an investigation into the fraud allegations.
“Americans expect and deserve elections that are free, fair, transparent, and efficient. California clearly does not want to meet those standards,” Scott told The California Post, an offshoot of the right-wing New York Post.
He continued, “Between troubling reports of fraudulent ballots being submitted, people paying homeless people to cast ballots, and delays in ballot counting, everyone paying attention is troubled by the process. The American people deserve answers.”
Democrats condemned the baseless allegations of fraud.
“The anomaly in the LA Mayor’s race is that Republican MAGA Pratt even got to 2nd place on election night. The LA Times poll had Pratt in 3rd place. Dems massively outnumber Republicans by nearly 4 to 1 in LA,” Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu of California wrote on X. “Pratt was predicted to lose and he lost. That’s not fraud, it’s math.”
But Republicans know that they can rile up their base of rubes by making false and absurd allegations of fraud—which is why they aren’t going to stop.
In fact, their lies about California are likely just a precursor of what’s to come in the midterms, when Republicans will almost certainly be crushed due to Trump’s unpopularity—a narrative that malignant narcissist Trump will refuse to accept.
“It’s pretty clear to all of us that Republicans are laying the groundwork to do anything to hold power,” Democratic Rep. Pete Aguilar of California said. “That’s what this is about.”
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