ABC, NBC Celebrate Pratt Losing LA Race, Defend Vote Counting at Snail’s Pace

Curtis Houck
June 9th, 2026 6:04 PM

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Between Monday night and Tuesday morning, ABC and NBC used their flagship newscasts to not only trumpet far-left Los Angeles Councilwoman Nithya Raman overtaking independent Spencer Pratt for the coveted second place in the Los Angeles mayoral primary, but blasted those raising concerns or even grievances about the molasses-paced vote counting because, in their mind, it’s proof the country’s second-largest city knows what it’s doing.

Predictably, Disney-owned ABC News had correspondents treating viewers like we’re stupid.

On Monday’s World News Tonight, correspondent Kayna Whitworth reveled in the switch with “the upstart conservative candidate from reality TV” losing to “progressive council member, Nithya Raman” and stated as an accepted reality that “it can take weeks to get final results” in California because “80 percent of voters vote by mail” in the Golden State.

Whitworth also discouraged any gripes as more or less “baseless claims of fraud” when “this is typical for California.”

She even had the gall to argue the slowness is a sign of security: “[B]allots postmarked by election day can arrive up to a week later and still be counted, and election workers cross-check the signatures on those mail-in ballots. It’s not fast, but it’s meant to prevent voter fraud.”

Tuesday’s Good Morning America wrought more profoundly pathetic spin. National correspondent Trevor Ault took a veiled jab at Pratt before insisting telling people to cut it out on complaining about the count: “His campaign was fully focused on critiquing the mayor, and it did generate a lot of traction online, but not enough traction with voters in the city of Los Angeles[.]”

Ault then lamented “there’s been a lot of questions on why it’s taking California so long to count the votes,” but insisted this explanation was proof this “not...fast process” is actually a good thing:

Now, we know there’s been a lot of questions on why it’s taking California so long to count the votes. Well, 80 percent of voters here vote by mail, and ballots postmarked by election day can arrive as late as today and still be counted. Plus, election workers are cross-checking the signatures on all of those mail-in ballots. It is not a very fast process, but it is meant to prevent voter fraud.

Monday’s NBC Nightly News had the same arrogance. Anchor Tom Llamas denounced “growing unfounded claims tonight of fraud in the mayoral election” with President Trump “putting forward no evidence.”

Correspondent Liz Kreutz facilitated the spin that taking over a week to count votes is well and good (click “expand”):

KREUTZ: Pratt, the Republican political outsider, who ran after losing his home in the Palisades fire and surged late with viral ads railing against the city’s leadership.

SPENCER PRATT [in ad]: This is where I live. They let my home burn down.

KREUTZ: Tonight, Pratt’s saying there’s still hundreds of thousands of votes outstanding. The GOP gubernatorial candidates, Steve Hilton, blasting the process.

STEVE HILTON [on FNC, 06/07/26]: This election shambles this fiasco where they’re saying is going to be like another month before we know the result fully. It’s just an example of how these people can’t run anything properly.

KREUTZ: The L.A. County registrar pushing back.

LA COUNTY REGISTRAR-RECORDER & COUNTY CLERK DEAN LOGAN: Our job is to make sure that we process this ballots correctly, securely, accurately, and that does take time.

KREUTZ: He says California’s universal vote-by-mail system causes delays. Mail-in ballots are counted so long as they’re postmarked by Election Day and arrive a full seven days after the election. 

From inside a voting-counting facility, Kreutz doubled down:

[Counting by hand] is just one of the steps in this very long process. You can see the workers here opening up all of the ballots, and then they make their way over here, Tom, to the highly secure tally room. There is no internet, no unauthorized personnel allowed in there. Officials say part of the delay is that more than 80 percent of all the ballots processed so far in this race are vote-by-mail. 

Tuesday’s Today even framed the concerns about the speed as a nuisance for Democrat Mayor Karen Bass even though she too is a candidate.

“L.A. Shake up. NBC News projecting former reality star Spencer Pratt’s bid to become mayor of Los Angeles now coming to an end. His third-place finish, falling just short of November’s runoff as the city’s current mayor addresses baseless claims of election fraud,” co-host Craig Melvin said in a tease.

Kreutz was back with the story and first conceded “Spencer Pratt gained a lot of momentum, especially online, through his viral campaign ads railing against the city’s leadership, as well as this personal story of losing his home in the Palisades fire,” but still failed because Los Angeles is a “very blue city where Democrats overwhelmingly outnumber Republicans[.]”

She then made the turn to bashing those concerned about the process and evaporation of what had seemed like a ticket for Pratt to November:

The race drawing national attention with some top Republicans — without evidence — claiming voter fraud, including President Trump posting on Truth Social: “Not possible for Spencer Pratt to have lost the LA runoffs after the big lead he had...rigged elections.” But California’s election process often slower than other states more than 80 percent in this race voting by mail and those ballots are counted so long as they’re postmarked by Election Day.

“The nonpartisan official in charge pushing back on fraud claims,” she boasted ahead of a soundbite from the Los Angeles County Registrar-recorder.

For some reason, she even shoe-horned in an attempt at sympathy for Bass:

KREUTZ: And Mayor Bass also firing back. [TO BASS] What do you make of the President’s claims and some of the claims by Spencer Pratt’s supporters that the Democrats have cheated in this election?

BASS: Well, I mean, I think that that’s a familiar accusation that is made when one is losing.

“Statewide, well over a million mail and ballots still need to be counted. You can see every single one of these ballots is being counted by hand. They then make their way over here to this highly secure tally room,” she declared ahead of raising the specter “Democrat Tom Steyer” could catch Republican Steve Hilton for second place in the gubernatorial election.

CBS was far more muted about it and did not step on a series of rakes by insulting viewers.

Monday’s CBS Evening News skipped the big change in the vote tally, while Tuesday’s CBS Mornings only had a 26-second news brief from co-host Gayle King that kicked off the second hour:

We begin with this, though, a major shakeup in the race to be mayor of Los Angeles. Now it is down to two Democrats. Reality star Spencer Pratt, endorsed by President Trump, was running second for a long time, but fell to third place as the rest of the primary votes started coming in. City Counselor Nithya Raman, a democratic socialist, has surged ahead. She now will face mayor Karen Bass. That race is set for November.

To see the relevant transcripts from June 8, click here (for ABC) and here (for NBC). To see the relevant transcripts from June 9, click here (for ABC), here (for CBS), and here (for NBC).

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