Vice President JD Vance joined the chorus of Republican voices pushing the baseless idea that the Los Angeles mayoral primary election is rigged, suggesting Monday evening that Spencer Pratt’s apparent loss is “pretty shady.”

Pratt, the former reality star-turned conservative candidate for mayor, has slipped behind incumbent Mayor Karen Bass and progressive candidate Nithya Raman as mail-in votes continue to be counted.

Most Californians take advantage of the state’s mail-in voting laws, which means that tallying ballots can take a while. That gap has allowed conspiracy theories to proliferate — particularly since President Donald Trump is among those pushing falsehoods.

Speaking on Fox News, Vance acted confused by the idea that Pratt’s lead might vanish as more votes are counted.

“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?” Vance began.

“You would expect these mail-in ballots to kind of meet that same basic pattern,” he continued, incorrectly. “But somehow, we find ourselves in a situation where, No. 1, they’re still receiving ballots, not just counting ballots, Jesse; they’re still receiving ballots, and, No. 2, 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 it’s a Democrat-versus-Democrat runoff. That seems pretty shady to me.”

Pratt was in second place as votes were being reported on the night of the election, but as more and more mail-in ballots were counted, Raman officially surpassed him. It was determined Monday that she will face off with incumbent Karen Bass in the November election. Mail-in ballots will continue to be accepted until the end of Tuesday, and they can be counted until the end of the month.

Unlike most other states, California has what is known as a “jungle primary,” which means the top two candidates in the primary — regardless of party — will advance to the general election, allowing the Los Angeles mayoral election to be Democrat vs. Democrat.

In addition to the time it takes to tally votes, Republicans have latched onto California’s lack of photo identification, claiming it makes elections untrustworthy.

While California does not require ID to vote, if someone is voting for the first time, they may be asked to show a photo ID, such as a gym membership card. Vance said on Fox News that allowing a gym membership card as an acceptable form of ID means the elections “don’t have the legitimacy they need.”

Vance said, “It’s insane that we have a state not only that doesn’t ask for your identification but will throw you in jail if your an elections official who is asking for identification.” (This is an untrue claim Trump has also promoted.)

On Monday, Trump sided with Vance’s suggestion — made without evidence — that the election is rigged.

“Not possible for Spencer Pratt to have lost the L.A. runoffs after the big lead he had,” Trump wrote. “3rd World Nation. Rigged Elections! Now they’ll be working on great guy Steve Hilton. Won’t have results for, possibly, TWO WEEKS, according to officials.”

(Hilton is running as a Republican in the state’s gubernatorial race.)

Even though The Associated Press has already called the race — reporting that Raman and Bass will face off in the runoff election in November — Pratt, a former reality TV star who Trump endorsed, is still holding out hope.

As he wrote Monday on X: “Folks, we’re dealing with a fraction of a percentage point difference, there’s still hundreds of thousands of votes outstanding, and LA officials have given us the next 3 weeks to count! Let’s git-r-dun!”