Where Things Stand last night covered what seems to be the beginning of the 2026-specific flooding of the “zone” with “shit,” to use Steve Bannon’s infamous terminology. (I am distinguishing these state- and primary-specific attacks from the more general muck of election conspiracy theories we have been wading in daily for the better part of a decade.) The conspiracy theory machine is off and running, fueled by conservative dismay that reality TV star-turned-dilettante politician Spencer Pratt (R) will not advance to the November general election against LA Mayor Karen Bass (D). Perhaps making it more painful is that he was in recent days supplanted in second place by Nithya Raman, a DSA-backed Democrat. The AP projected Monday that Raman and Bass will face off in November.
JD Vance is the latest person to get involved with spinning false narratives from conservatives’ ire. “Do you trust this election?” a grinning Jesse Watters asked Vance last night on Fox, teeing him up.
Vance professed ignorance about what could possibly be happening with California’s election results, rolling out a version of a conspiracy theory well worn by his boss since 2020.
“How is it that you had Karen Bass was in first place, Spencer Pratt was in second place and then this other woman was in third place — you would expect these mail in ballots to kind of meet that same basic pattern where number one would get the most votes, number two would get the second most votes, and so on,” he mused.
“The way that they’re coming in just so happens to work out such that the Republican is getting kicked out of the final two so that it’s a Democrat versus Democrat runoff,” he added a moment later. “That seems pretty shady to me.”
Of course, as TPM readers — and, I suspect, JD Vance — know, Democrats are more likely to vote by mail. In states like California that count mail-in votes after Election Day votes, the results tend to shift toward Democrats over time. It’s called the “red mirage,” and it’s been discussed over and over and over since Trump’s election theft attempt in 2020.
