Meet Larry Elder: California Recall Candidate Profile

By Sameea Kamal, CalMatters

Age: 69

Party: Republican

Home: Los Angeles

Host of the nationally syndicated “The Larry Elder Show” on talk radio, a newspaper columnist and author. Also, a former trial attorney and small business owner. Born and raised in South Central Los Angeles, his father, a World War II Marine Corps veteran, owned a restaurant, while his mother was a clerical worker for the War Department.

Likes:

School choice, public safety programs, “robe-raging”

Dislikes:

Teachers’ unions, government welfare programs, climate change “alarmists”

If he becomes governor:

• Would address homelessness by empowering religious institutions and nonprofits — not the government — to help people become self-sufficient
• Would suspend the California Environmental Quality Act to allow more development of housing units
• Says there should be no minimum wage and that pay should be set by the free market
• Would oppose defunding the police
• Would overturn Proposition 47, a voter-approved measure that reclassified certain theft and drug possession offenses from felonies to misdemeanors
• Would repeal mask mandates and mandates requiring teachers and school staff and requiring state workers to get a COVID-19 vaccination or face regular testing
• Would declare a state of emergency for California’s public schools, provide vouchers to families they could use at any school they want and would increase competition through charter and private schools after initially saying he would fire the state’s 15,000 “worst” teachers
• Supports overturning Roe v. Wade and allowing states to decide abortion restrictions

Personal quote:

“We’ve got a state to save.”

Hear him on the issues:

Elder talks about why he won’t debate Republicans and why he believes he is wrongly portrayed.

Supporters:

• California College Republicans
• Lincoln Club of Orange County, a mainline GOP group and Newsom recall funder
• California Republican Assembly, a Republican volunteer organization
• Rudy Guliani, former New York mayor and Donald Trump’s personal lawyer
• Lou Dobbs, former Fox News host
• Ben Carson, former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
• Gloria Romero, a registered Democrat, former state lawmaker and longtime charter school advocate
• State Senators Brian Dahle and Shannon Grove and U.S. Rep. Doug LaMalfa, among other state and local officials

More about him:

• Why is Larry Elder focusing so much on reaching out to Latino and Asian voters?
• Judge puts Larry Elder on recall ballot, throws out tax return requirement
• Will Larry Elder’s talk-radio style sync with recall voters? – Los Angeles Times
• Recall election: Conservative radio host Larry Elder on Gavin Newsom, COVID and whether Trump lost in 2020 – (San Jose) Mercury News

Contact him:

@larryelderelectelder.com