Conservative commentator Larry Elder announces 2024 bid for White House

Larry Elder, the conservative talk-radio host who came up short in a failed bid to recall California Gov. Gavin Newsom two years ago, announced Thursday that he will seek the Republican nomination for president in 2024.

Elder announced his candidacy on Twitter, saying “America is in decline, but this decline is not inevitable. We can enter a new American Golden Age, but we must choose a leader who can bring us there. That’s why I’m running for President.”

Elder, who appears regularly on Fox News as a commentator, also announced his intention to run during a primetime interview with Tucker Carlson in which he acknowledged his status as a political newcomer.

“I’m the only one who didn’t serve [in public office], and I don’t feel good about that,” Elder told Carlson as he joined an increasingly crowded field of GOP hopefuls who have already announced, including former President Donald Trump and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, among others.

“I feel I have a moral, a religious, and a patriotic duty to give back to a country that’s been so good to my family and me,” Elder said.

Elder said he was mainly concerned about the state of crime and policing in the United States under Democrats, and also the increasing rate of single-parent households, especially in communities of color.

“We’ve incentivized women to marry the government. We’ve incentivized men to abandon their financial and moral responsibility,” Elder said. “And if I do nothing else in this race, but focus people on those two issues … I would perform this service to my country.”

The 70-year-old Elder is from South Central Los Angeles and went to Brown University before earning a law degree from the University of Michigan.

Following his unsuccessful bid to unseat Newsom during the 2021 recall election, Elder declined to challenge the Democratic incumbent a second time in 2022.

Instead, the longtime host of “The Larry Elder Show” decided to step away from radio to launch a political action committee that works to galvanize support for Republican candidates who would retake control of the U.S. House and Senate.