President Donald Trump asserted on Wednesday that his vocal complaints about voter fraud in California compelled state officials to swiftly certify Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton for the general election. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump argued that without his intervention, Hilton might have been shut out of the runoff.
“After a week, they determined that a kid who’s leading and had all the mojo, all of the sudden he doesn’t make the runoff, and then I hit them hard on that,” Trump said, referencing former Los Angeles mayoral hopeful Spencer Pratt, who lost his race. “I started talking about Steve Hilton who’s a fantastic guy and I saw them say it was going to be two weeks before they knew, and I started hitting them.”
The president recounted that he warned officials: “It’s going to happen to Steve Hilton.” He then claimed, “And they approved Steve Hilton very quickly. There was too much heat on them.”
Hilton, a former Fox News contributor and Trump ally, secured the second spot in California’s top-two primary earlier this week, trailing former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, a Democrat. The outcome was delayed as election officials processed a surge of mail-in ballots, a process that state authorities had warned could take days or weeks.
Trump and his allies have repeatedly alleged, without evidence, that the Los Angeles mayoral race was tainted by voter fraud, pointing to the extended counting period as proof. However, California’s election laws—which allow mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day to arrive and be validated days later—are the primary reason for the delays, not fraud.
“The system is designed to ensure every valid vote is counted, not to rig outcomes,” said a spokesperson for the California Secretary of State’s office, who declined to comment directly on Trump’s remarks. The state’s extended deadline for mail-in ballots has long been a point of contention among Republicans, who argue it creates opportunities for irregularities, though no widespread fraud has been documented.
Hilton’s advancement sets up a general election showdown with Becerra, a contest that could test Trump’s influence in a deep-blue state where the president remains deeply unpopular. Hilton has embraced Trump’s endorsement, while Becerra has focused on his record in the Biden administration and California’s progressive policies.
The president’s comments come amid a broader push by Trump to amplify unsubstantiated claims of election fraud, a strategy that has resonated with his base but drawn sharp criticism from Democrats and election integrity advocates. The episode also highlights the ongoing tension between state election procedures and Trump’s narrative of a rigged system.
Meanwhile, Trump has been pressing for stricter voter ID laws, a topic he recently highlighted after backing Senator Lindsey Graham’s primary win. In California, the debate over mail-in voting is likely to intensify as the general election approaches, with Hilton and his allies signaling they will continue to question the integrity of the process.
