Elder Concedes And Pauses Fraud Claims To Look Ahead

COSTA MESA, CA — "We've got a state to save" were the words top Republican gubernatorial contender Larry Elder left hanging in the air at his concession speech in Orange County Tuesday night.

Elder's message to voters after the race was called in favor of Gov. Gavin Newsom made one thing clear: California voters have not seen the last of him.

The right-wing broadcaster stopped short of announcing a 2022 run and eased off claims that the election was rigged against him.

"Come on, let's be gracious in defeat," Elder cooed to a crowd booing Newsom's triumph.

Days before the vote tally began, the GOP's front-runner had already begun crafting a narrative to contest a loss. Elder suggested that the election would be tainted by fraud or "shenanigans," as he put it. Last week, his campaign launched a website that prematurely declared Newsom's victory was based on fraud, inviting users to sign a petition to investigate "twisted" results. There has been no evidence of voter fraud in the gubernatorial election so far.

That language was removed just hours before his defeat, although the "Stop CA Fraud" website remained. The petition was replaced with an affidavit form for visitors to report "irregularities, interference, or intimidation while voting."

The unfounded claims ahead of election day immediately drew parallels to last year's presidential election and transformed Elder into a proxy of former President Donald Trump, who made identical claims after losing to President Joe Biden. Evidence of voter fraud was never verified by investigators.

"It's probably rigged," Trump told Newsmax last week. "Nobody's going to win except these Democrats. The one thing they are good at is rigging elections, so I predict it's a rigged election."

The claims of fraud prompted a nod from Newsom in his election night victory speech.

"Democracy is not a football. You don't throw it around," Newsom said. "It's more like a, I don't know, an antique vase. You can drop it and smash it into a million different pieces. And that's what we're capable of doing if we don't stand up to meet the moment and push back."

READ MORE: Newsom Crushes Recall, But Where Does California Go From Here?

Newsom supporters were worried for a moment amid slipping margins in August polls, loud support for a recall on the right and apparent voter apathy on the left. But Tuesday’s "no" votes overshadowed the "yes" votes 63.9 percent to 36.1 percent.

After Elder's strategy failed to energize voters enough to turn the state tide red, he turned his fervor back to Newsom's performance and California's political culture.

"Notice that all these people, whether it's Barack Obama or Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders — all of whom cut a commercial for Gavin Newsom — notice they never said the following words: Gavin Newsom has done a good job for the people of California," Elder said Tuesday night.

"'It's a Republican takeover, white supremacists — say hello to the Black face of white supremacy,'" he said, mocking his opponents. "Hey, don't laugh. I worked hard for that title."

Like Trump, Elder has charismatically weathered allegations that historically would have ended the careers of politicians past. In the final month of his campaign, claims surfaced that he drew a firearm on his ex-fiancee in the heat of a dispute — a statement from his ex that had prominent Republicans calling for Elder to drop out of the race. Elder all but responded with a shrug and took such setbacks in stride.

And it wasn't just one potential setback. Quotes arose in which he claimed women were uninformed voters and that slave owners should receive reparations for losing their property after slavery was abolished. Yet he catapulted to the top of the list of 45 other opponents and surged in every midsummer poll.

The key to Elder's popularity may have been his ability to charm Republicans. But his promises also would have delivered for Californians vehemently against Newsom's pandemic response — a deep-rooted and widely felt frustration that gave life to the recall effort. If elected, Elder vowed to immediately free Golden Staters from masking, vaccine mandates and restrictions on businesses.

Despite his magnetism among far-right supporters and vaccination opponents and his ability to dodge political ruin, Democrats overrode the boisterous campaign, remaining quiet through most of the effort and swooping in at the last minute to keep the state blue.

On Tuesday, the GOP needed all the help it could get. Democrats make up 46.5 percent of all registered voters. Republicans account for just 24 percent.

If there seemed to be an enthusiasm gap between energetic Republicans and apathetic Democrats more than a month ago, that impression was dispelled Tuesday. Some 4.9 million Democrats turned in ballots, compared to 2.5 million ballots from Republicans.

Elder's fraud claims may have backfired on him, as some Republicans feared that such claims could stifle turnout if Republicans felt their vote wouldn't count.

Harmeet Dhillon, an attorney and the national committeewoman of the Republican National Committee for California, told the Associated Press that she made a video with her husband showing them casting ballots by mail and urging everyone to do the same.

But Dhillon also said she could not say whether California's election would be secure, saying she and a team of attorneys monitoring voting have witnessed dozens of problems.

“There will be a lot of questions and potentially litigation after this election about this sloppy-at-best treatment of people’s ballots and their right to vote,” Dhillon said.

Long Beach voter Terry Sweeney voted in person Tuesday, even though she suspected the election was rigged. Sweeney said the general election was rigged and believed the recall election will be riddled with fraud. As proof, she said she and most people she talks to favor the recall, and yet Newsom could still prevail.

"You can vote one way and have a majority of people you ask .. .saying, 'No, I don't like him.' I don't want him here," she said.

Keeping in mind that Elder tends to take his upsets in stride, it's likely that California will see the 69-year-old talk show host return in 2022 with a new game plan. On Tuesday night, his speech stirred speculation about another bid for governor.

The millions of recall supporters, who spent months turning a longshot recall effort into a viable threat in a state that hadn't elected a Republican to statewide office in 15 years may also return to his aid, should he run again.

"We may have lost the battle," Elder said Tuesday. "But we are going to win the war."

The Associated Press and Patch Editor Paige Austin contributed to this report.