Larry Elder Won’t Run for Governor Again, Creates Pro-GOP Super PAC

Conservative talk radio host Larry Elder will not run for California’s governorship in the 2022 election after unsuccessfully challenging Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) in last year’s recall attempt.

In the aftermath of his recall loss, Elder told his supporters, “We may have lost the battle, but we are going to win the war.” It appears Elder intends to keep his promise after announcing the formation of the Elder for America PAC on Tuesday.

Elder announced the PAC in a statement:

I ran for Governor because I wanted to make a difference. While I may not know what the future holds for me politically, our campaign’s ability to attract millions of votes and millions of dollars in a very short time demonstrates we have a message that resonates with Americans, and I believe we can put that to good use.

Elder led the pack of 46 replacement candidates on the ballot, receiving roughly 3.5 million votes. Elder’s vote total accounted for more than 48 percent of the replacement ballot votes, which was over 30 percent higher than the next closest recall challenger.

Although Newsom received 61.5 percent of the vote in his 2018 election, California voters attempted to recall the governor following his controversial response to the coronavirus pandemic. The recall effort gained steam after Newsom allegedly breached his public health mandates while visiting a restaurant in the Napa Valley, California. Ultimately, 61.9 percent of California voters decided to keep Newsom in office.

Newsom spun the recall effort from focusing on his governance and public health regulations to an election about former President Donald Trump and “Trumpism.” At one point, Newsom portrayed the election as “ a matter of life and death.”

“I said this many, many times on the campaign trail. We may have defeated Trump, but Trumpism is not dead in this country,” Newsom said on recall election night.

Elder’s political action committee will focus its efforts on assisting the GOP in its quest to take back control of the U.S. House of Representatives in the upcoming 2022 midterms. According to the organization, the PAC “will engage in public education campaigns, direct voter contact, and fundraising to help Republicans win key seats in the House and Senate, and effect public policy on the local level.”

In his statement, Elder said, “The radical left’s woke agenda is destroying America. Our major cities look like war zones thanks to ‘progressive’ district attorneys and other pro-criminal policies.”

“The distinction in quality of life between areas controlled by leftists and those that are not highlight the failure of the woke movement,” he added.

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