NEW YORK, NEW YORK — Stating that the mathematical modeling was simply too conclusive to ignore, the Fox News Decision Desk officially projected Tuesday morning that Democrat Karen Bass will win the Los Angeles mayoral election, making the call shortly after a single mail-in ballot was opened and tabulated.
The shockingly early call, just minutes after voting centers opened, immediately drew comparisons to the network’s infamous decision during the 2020 presidential election to call Arizona for Joe Biden when there were still millions of votes left to count.
“I’m looking at the raw data, and frankly, the math is insurmountable for anyone else,” declared Arnon Mishkin, director of the Fox News Decision Desk. “Based on our extensive analysis, sophisticated statistical modeling, and the fact that the first vote happened to be for Karen Bass, we are prepared to confidently project that Karen Bass has won reelection. Our proprietary modeling shows no statistical path for a challenger to overcome this massive, one-point lead.”
Sources inside Fox News said executives had originally intended to wait for a second ballot before making a projection but ultimately decided the additional caution would be unnecessary.
At press time, election officials reported that a second ballot had finally been counted, narrowing Bass’s lead from 100% to 50%, prompting Fox News to upgrade its projection from “Winner” to “Winner Plus.”
