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Politics & Policy

Former California gubernatorial recall candidate Larry Elder announces 2024 presidential bid

Larry Elder, who was then running to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom in the 2021 recall election, speaks to supporters at an election night event in Costa Mesa. | Mario Tama/Getty Images

Conservative talk radio show host Larry Elder announced Thursday that he is running for president in 2024.

“America is in decline, but this decline is not inevitable,” Elder said in a Thursday tweet. “We can enter a new American Golden Age, but we must choose a leader who can bring us there. That’s why I’m running for President.”

Elder previously ran for governor during the September 2021 recall against Gov. Gavin Newsom, but the incumbent prevailed 62-38 on the question of whether he deserved to be removed from office. Had voters unseated Newsom, the ballot included a second question about who his replacement should be. Elder won that part, netting 26% of the votes out of a field of 46 candidates.

The 71-year-old had run on a Libertarian platform, holding the view that there should be no minimum wage, while supporting the use of school vouchers and legalizing recreational drugs.

Elder has also made controversial comments about women in the past, including that women should tolerate crude language from men and that women exaggerate the problems that sexism creates in the workplace.

Elder is one of several declared candidates running for the Republican Party’s nomination, a list that includes former president Donald Trump, former South Carolina Gov. and former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and conservative entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.

Garrett Leahy can be reached at garrett@sfstandard.com