California officials push back on Trump claim that Prop. 50 vote is a ‘GIANT SCAM’
As California voters headed to the polls Tuesday to vote on a measure that could thwart President Trump’s national agenda, state officials mocked Trump’s baseless claims that voting in the majority-Democratic state was “rigged.”
“The Unconstitutionally Redistricted Voting in California is a GIANT SCAM in the sense that the entire process, especially the Voting, is FRAUD,” Trump said in a statement on Truth Social just minutes after polling stations opened in California on Tuesday.
The president provided no evidence for his claims.
“All ‘Mail-In’ ballots in this state where Republicans are ‘Off’ are under very serious civil and criminal scrutiny,” the GOP chairman wrote. “STAY TUNED!”
Governor Gavin Newsom dismissed He calls the president’s claims about X “the ramblings of an old man who knows he’s about to LOSE.”
The press office also intervened, calling Trump “a completely frivolous individual who is spreading misinformation in a desperate attempt to cope with his failures.”
National tensions are high as voters in California vote on Proposition 50, a Democratic plan backed by Newsom that aims to redraw the state’s congressional districts in favor of the Democratic Party ahead of the 2026 election. The measure aims to offset the GOP’s gerrymandering of red states after Trump pressured Texas to redraw maps to bolster the GOP’s narrow House majority.
California’s top election official, Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber, called Trump’s claim “another baseless claim.”
“As a result, the California elections were upheld by the courts,” Weber said in a statement. “California voters will not be deceived by someone who continually makes desperate, unproven attempts to deter Americans from participating in our democracy.”
Weber noted that more than 7 million Californians have voted and encouraged those who have not yet voted to go to the polls.
“California voters will not be prevented from exercising their constitutional right to vote, and no one should be allowed to deter them from exercising that right,” Weber said.
Of the 7 million Californians who voted More than 4.6 million did so by mail, According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Los Angeles residents alone cast more than 788,000 votes by mail.
Trump has long criticized mail-in voting. As more Democrats opted to vote by mail during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the president has repeatedly made unproven claims that mail-in voting is linked to voter fraud. When Trump ultimately lost the election, he blamed the expansion of mail-in voting.
Last month, the stakes in California’s special elections increased as polls showed Proposition 50 could pass. More than half of voters in California said they plan to support the measure, which could allow Democrats to gain five seats in the House.
Last month, the Justice Department specifically singled out California for national review: announced It will send federal observers to counties in California as well as polling stations in New Jersey, another traditionally Democratic state that holds nationally significant off-year elections.
The monitors will go to five California counties: Los Angeles, Kern, Riverside, Fresno and Orange.
This story will be updated.
