Hypocrisy exposed: GOP embraces California election integrity when a Republican wins

Republicans have spent the past week since the California election complaining that it takes too long to count the millions of votes in the state where 80 percent of ballots are mail-in. Yet, when it came to one of their own members, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) was quick to swear in a Republican who won a special election in the state where he claimed fraud was rampant.

Rep. James Gallagher (R-Ca.) was sworn in on Wednesday, taking over the district of the late Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Ca), who passed away on Jan. 6, 2026.

Gallagher was leading in the Tuesday election results last week at 62 percent, and the Associated Press declared him the winner, ABC 10 reported.

Roll Call publisher Nathan Gonzales couldn't help but notice the hypocrisy of Republicans who have spent the past week alleging something untoward was happening with the election, but found the election acceptable enough to swear in the new lawmaker.

"Republicans must feel comfortable enough with election integrity in California to swear in a new member before the election is even certified," wrote Gonzales.

Primaries in California last week allowed for any ballot that was postmarked on Election Day to be counted. So, they wait about a week to ensure all ballots have been received and can be counted. The delay prompted a new round of vague accusations about corruption or wrongdoing in the election by Republicans. The far right was particularly angry after Los Angeles mayoral candidate, ex-reality TV star boyfriend Spencer Pratt, was shut out of the general election after he came in third in the state's all-party primary. Incumbent Democrat Karen Bass will now face a challenge from within her own party from Nithya Raman.

“No way this could have happened. Rigged Election!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. In a separate post, he added, “Two great Republican Candidates are being cheated.”

In another post on Thursday, Trump ranted in all-caps, “The Dumocrats are at it again! They are trying to STEAL THE GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA PRIMARY, AND THE MAYOR OF LOS ANGELES, PRIMARY, AWAY FROM TWO GREAT REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES. Here we go with the very late and massive numbers of MAIL IN BALLOTS.”

GOP candidate Steve Hilton said he was "happy" with the results and that he hadn't seen any evidence of election fraud.

Signature checks must be done with mail-in ballots along with other security checks. So it can take longer, Democracy Docket explained in a fact-check on Monday.