President Donald Trump took credit for salvaging former Fox News Steve Hilton’s campaign to become California‘s next governor amid complaints about the state’s elections.
“I called up the very powerful, very good U.S. Attorney in California, and I said, ‘Do me a favor, take a look, they’re trying to steal that election too,’” Trump told a crowd Tuesday in Macungie, Pennsylvania.
The president said Hilton, who will now contest California’s gubernatorial election against former President Joe Biden‘s Health and Human Services Secretary, Xavier Becerra, won “an hour after the call.”
“Had I not made that call, Steve Hilton would right now be looking, watching the election from home,” he added. “He would have a great chance, but the election is totally rigged. California is totally rigged. All mail-in ballots… We got to pass the SAVE America Act.”
Trump also had similar complaints about how California’s elections undermined former reality TV star Spencer Pratt‘s campaign to become Los Angeles’s next mayor.
“Did they screw the kid Pratt?” he said. “He’s leading, and all of a sudden he’s lost.”
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Trump has repeatedly criticized California’s elections for delays caused by how the state counts votes cast by mail.
California election law stipulates that votes are valid if they arrive by mail up to a week after Election Day, as long as they were postmarked by that Tuesday. The counting process, however, must conclude within 13 days of the election.