Conservative talk show host and former Republican California gubernatorial candidate Larry Elder is running for president in 2024, he announced Thursday on “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”
Elder, host of “The Larry Elder Show,” launched into the national spotlight in 2021 when he ran in California’s recall election to remove Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom from office. The talk show host, whose often used slogan is “we’ve got a country to save,” told Carlson that he is running because he feels a moral obligation to do so, and wants to combat the crime crisis, the “lie” that America is a racist country and the amount of children being born into fatherless homes.
“I am announcing I am running for the presidency of the United States,” said Elder. “I feel I have a moral, religious, patriotic duty to give back to a country that’s been so good to my family and me. That’s why I am doing this.”
Elder has made recent trips to key early primary states and has a political action committee, Elder For America, that raised roughly $1.7 million in 2022, according to Federal Election Commission filings. (RELATED: Larry Elder Will ‘Likely’ Announce 2024 Presidential Bid ‘Soon,’ Close Friend Says)
“I am pro-life, don’t buy the notion America is systematically racist, because I want to secure borders, because I want us to be energy independent, you are urban schools are a disaster,” said Elder.
In the recall race, Elder led the replacement side of the ticket with 48.4% of the support and about 3.5 million votes, however, 69.1% voted “no” to remove Newsom from the governor’s mansion.
Tom Tradup, a close friend of Elder and vice president of SALEM Radio Network, previously told the Daily Caller News Foundation that Elder’s run against the governor was a “tough put” in such a Democratic state, and touted the host’s success in winning 57 out of California’s 58 counties.
“Any Republican running in California is going to have a tough time because of the heavy, heavy Democratic registration,” said Tradup. “But the rest of the country is going to be very open to hearing the message that Larry Elder delivers.”
Elder enters a growing GOP primary field with former President Donald Trump, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and conservative businessman Vivek Ramaswamy.
“He truly does want to help this country move forward,” said Tradup. “[Americans] are tired of having word-processed, overly lawyered campaign statements that they run through the deflavorizor so that they won’t offend anybody. What you end up with is these candidates running who don’t stand for anything.”
Elder’s leaned on his family’s military background, and said he wants to run to serve the country, as well, and recounted advice his father had gave him, he told Carlson.
“Democrats want to give you something for nothing. You try to get something for nothing, you end up getting nothing for something,” Elder said.
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