Larry Elder is stepping away from his struggling 2024 presidential campaign and throwing his support behind former President Donald Trump.
The California conservative made the announcement Thursday, Oct. 26, on X, formerly Twitter.
Elder, 71, posted a photo of himself alongside Trump, 77, with both giving the decision a thumbs up. Elder captioned the post: “It’s time to unite behind @realDonaldTrump to beat Joe Biden!”
Related Story: Trump Mugshot Memes Cause Social Media Frenzy
According to a Suffolk University/USA Today poll released on Oct. 23, Elder didn’t stand even a remote chance of winning. Among potential Republican primary voters, the poll found Elder getting one percent of the vote, compared to Trump’s 58 percent.
The Los Angeles radio host announced his White House bid on April 20, 2023 during an appearance on Fox News.
“America is in decline, but this decline is not inevitable,” read a statement on his campaign website. “As a California resident, I’ve seen firsthand how decades of Democrat rule have turned the Golden State, for many, into an unaffordable dystopia. I won’t let them do the same to America… That’s why I’m running for President.”
Now six months later, his campaign is ending.
The host of “The Larry Elder Show” talk radio program is African American and calls himself the “Sage From South Central” — although his views frequently clash with those of other Black activists in the community.
Elder previously ran a failed campaign to replace California Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2021.
He led the field of Republican candidates in the effort to recall and replace Newsom, but the radio host was trounced by the Democratic governor, who remains in office.
Elder has said he supports secure borders, national fiscal responsibility, and he argued that the descendants of White slave owners should get reparations because their families lost “legal property” after the Civil War.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that he is staunchly against San Francisco’s proposal to give reparations to longtime Black residents.
“The whole thing is absolutely insulting. What’s next, they’re going to give California back to Mexico?” Elder said in a January interview on Fox News.
