Larry Elder doesn’t drink coffee. But if Gov. Gavin Newsom is recalled on Sept. 14, and Elder is elected the next governor of California, he says he’ll repeal statewide vaccine and mask mandates aimed at curbing spread of the coronavirus on day one, before his “first cup of tea.”
The conservative radio talk show host made that promise during a rally with some 700 people at a donor’s house in Newport Beach on Saturday evening.
With current mask and vaccine mandates pushed by Newsom, California has the 36th lowest case rate out of 50 states plus Puerto Rico, according to federal health data. But case rates are rising, and some rural hospitals this week ran out of intensive care unit beds. Elder didn’t tell the crowd Saturday what he would do to address spread of the virus, and he didn’t take questions from the press.
The rally comes as Elder, 69, is facing increasing scrutiny over his past comments and treatment of women.
His former producer and ex-fiancée Alexandra Datig recently told Politico that Elder flashed a loaded gun at her while they were arguing at the end of their relationship in 2015. Elder denied the claim Saturday night.
“I’ve never waived a firearm, loaded or unloaded, at anybody,” he said.
“This is the best you guys can do?” he said to his critics. “They’re scared. They are scared to death.”
The crowd responded by cheering “Larry! Larry!”
Reports also have circulated of Elder saying he supports allowing companies to refuse to hire women if they plan to get pregnant and of him saying he doesn’t believe there’s a gender-based wage gap or glass ceiling. He said welfare “incentivizes women to marry the government,” and that President Donald Trump motivated obese women to get off the couch as they marched against him in 2018.
Such comments don’t bother Claudia Montano, 57, of Newport Beach, who attended the rally to support Elder. Montano said she doesn’t believe the allegations, calling him “an honest, good man.” And she said she supports Elder because she thinks he’ll increase police funding, support school choice and make California more affordable.
Elder, who identifies as libertarian, supports eliminating the minimum wage. He also told the crowd he’ll use emergency powers as governor to unwind regulations that he says hold homebuilders back from building in California.
Elder is one of 46 candidates vying to replace Newsom. He’s raised more than $5 million since entering the race in mid-July and several polls now have him at the front of the pack. FiveThirtyEight’s average of recent surveys gives Elder 19.3% of the vote, followed by Democrat and YouTube star Kevin Paffrath with 9.1%.
But all of those polls show significant swaths of undecided voters, making the outcome of the Sept. 14 election far from clear.
Also not clear are details of Elder’s plans for tackling some of the key issues facing California.
Elder so far has refused to participate in debates with other GOP challengers. And much like former President Donald Trump, Elder has developed an adversarial relationship with some prominent media outlets. His campaign recently cut off all access to the Sacramento Bee over a conflict in the paper’s candidate questionnaire.
That’s left reporters and voters largely dependent on his comments at events like Saturday’s rally, his campaign website and his history as a radio host to get a sense of how he’d govern California.
Elder said during his Newport Beach rally that Ben Carson, who served as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under Donald Trump, has given him a plan for dealing with homelessness. Homelessness did not decline nationally while Carson ran HUD and Elder didn’t share details of Carson’s plan.
Elder says education reform is a top priority. He supports school vouchers and charter schools, holding up Trump’s Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos as an example of someone who’s philosophy he admires. And he slammed teachers unions specifically before criticizing all public employee unions.
But Elder spoke in support of police. Much of his speech Saturday was devoted to fighting claims that the United States has a problem with racism and that police are part of that problem. Elder, who is Black, spoke about former President Barack Obama as much as he spoke about Newsom, saying Obama “helped to push the phony narrative of systemic racism.”
“Systemic racism is not the problem and critical race theory and reparations are not the answer,” Elder said, drawing loud applause from the crowd.
Elder’s rally took place on tennis courts outside the home of Orange County developer and longtime GOP power broker Buck Johns, who became the center of a recent controversy over county plans to sell him a stretch of public land adjacent to his property in Upper Newport Bay for just $13,000.
Johns’ tennis courts have played host to GOP politicians since the 1980s, when the likes of then-U.S. Sen. Pete Wilson and Vice President Dan Quayle held receptions there.
Before Elder’s speech, Bishop Gale Oliver from Greater Light Family Church in Santa Ana said he hadn’t decided how he’ll vote on the recall or who to support if he votes yes.
Oliver said he’s not certain anyone would have handled the pandemic better than Newsom. “We were all trying to figure out what’s what.” Oliver said he does like what he’s heard from Elder on addressing homelessness. He also likes Elder’s back story.
Elder calls himself “the sage from South Central” owing to his background as a kid from South Central Los Angeles.
After graduating from Crenshaw High, Elder earned a bachelors degree in political science from Brown University, then a law degree from the University of Michigan School of Law. He was a trial attorney in Ohio before returning to California.
He’s hosted radio’s nationally syndicated “The Larry Elder Show” from Los Angeles for nearly 30 years. That earned him a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2015 and has made him a frequent guest on “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” “Hannity” and other Fox News shows
Elder’s stance on key issues also comes through in several books he’s written. His 2001 book “Ten Things You Can’t Say in America” covers claims such as “Blacks are more racist than Whites” and “there is no health-care crisis.” And his latest book, slated for release in July, is called “Cancel the Left: 76 People Who Would Improve America by Leaving It.” The description says “Larry Elder has a message for those elitists on the left who don’t like America. Leave. The left loves to complain about how awful America is. … these people should pack their bags and start their progressive paradise elsewhere.”
A significant share of Elder’s campaign website is dedicated to detailing what he sees as problems in California, including brown-outs, homelessness, fires, crime, businesses leaving and affordability.
Elder’s campaign is slated to hold a rally Sunday afternoon in Fresno.
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