Exclusive / Kalshi asks paid influencers to delete posts sowing doubts over LA mayoral election

Kalshi on Friday asked some of its paid political influencers to remove X posts that sowed doubt about the integrity of the Los Angeles mayoral election while promoting Kalshi odds, a spokesperson told Semafor.

Earlier this week X user Gunther Eagleman, a MAGA influencer with 1.7 million followers, wrote a series of posts claiming that the Los Angeles mayoral election was being stolen from Spencer Pratt.

“Is CA cheating to get Spencer Pratt out?” he wrote in a post, quote tweeting Kalshi prediction market odds on who would advance in the LA mayoral election.

“They’re stealing it, aren’t they?” Eagleman said in another post viewed by hundreds of thousands of users.

Despite their virality on X, such posts wouldn’t stand out much in a political world where paranoia about election integrity is the hallmark trait of the highest ranking US government official. But the posts noted that they were part of a paid partnership with Kalshi, the prediction market where users can wager on which candidate would emerge winners from this week’s primary election.

Kalshi and Polymarket have enlisted hundreds of paid influencers to share odds, ginning up interest in trading on the outcomes of everything from sporting events to political races to odds of public figures saying certain words. But in recent days, some of their paid political influencers shared posts promoting election fraud conspiracies.

Over the past several days, right-leaning political influencers have expressed dismay at former Hills cast member Spencer Pratt’s underperformance in the Los Angeles mayoral election, as he competes with LA City Council member Nithya Raman to appear on the ballot in the general election.

“Notice how the mail-in ballots that come in last second always end up voting Democrat,” streamer Kangmin Lee said in a post quoting Polymarket and labeled paid partnership. “Totally a coincidence, nothing to see here.”

“The public has so little faith in California’s elections that they just assume Democrats are going to dramatically rig it with questionable ballot counting DAYS after Election Day,” conservative influencer Benny Johnson said in a post also quoting Polymarket and labeled similarly.

“I need someone to explain to me how EVERY SINGLE VOTE that comes in “late” to California ...nearly 100% of them...Go to ANYONE but Spencer Pratt,” Matt Van Swol tweeted alongside Kalshi odds. “How the hell does that happen? Isn’t that LITERALLY impossible?!!!!”

Some of the posts seemed to go too far for Kalshi.

In a statement on Friday, Kalshi told Semafor it had asked the users, including Eagleman and Swol, to remove the posts. When Semafor checked on Friday, all three posts were removed.

“We’ve asked these to be taken down, as they violate our affiliate marketing policies,” Dani Lever, a spokesperson said.

A spokesperson for Polymarket did not respond to Semafor’s request for comment. Semafor also reached out to several political influencers including Johnson, Lee, and others to ask if because they believed the election was stolen, users who wagered on a victory from Pratt should receive refunds for their trades. They did not immediately respond.