Radio host and presidential candidate Larry Elder signaled that he is open to serving as former President Donald Trump's vice president.
Elder is a native of California. The attorney and author hosted the syndicated “The Larry Elder Show” on KABC radio from 1993 to 2008. In 2021, Elder emerged as the top conservative challenger to Governor Gavin Newsom during California’s recall vote.
“Well, if Mr. Trump is the nominee and he calls me with an offer to be vice president, I won't let the call go to voicemail,” said Elder during an interview on Newsmax.
Elder announced his presidential campaign in April while appearing on Tucker Carlson Tonight on Fox.
“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 to me,” Elder told Carlson while reflecting on his father and brothers’ military service.
“There are a couple of things that I think our side does not spend enough time talking about,” Elder said. “As that is the lie – the absolute disgraceful lie that the Democrats put on everything – which is that America is systematically racist.”
He stressed the “real consequences” that messaging is having on America, noting the “Ferguson effect” on law enforcement. He also stressed the importance of strengthening family units across the country.
“The 10,000-pound elephant in the room regarding all the stuff we see in Chicago and some of these other cities with these mass mobs is the lack of fathers in the home,” Elder continued. “Right now, today in America, 40% of all kids enter the world without a father in the home married to the mother – 70% in the Black community, 50% of Hispanics, 25% of Whites.”
“The question we should be asking ourselves is how do we go from having 25% of Black kids entering the world in 1965 without a father in the home married to the mother to 70% today? The answer is the welfare state,” he continued. “We’ve incentivized women to marry the government. We’ve incentivized men to abandon their financial and moral responsibilities.”
“If I do nothing else in this race but focus people on those two issues … I will have performed a service to my country,” said Elder.
Trump, who has now skipped two of the Republican National Committee’s debates, is currently favored to win his party’s nomination for president in 2024. A YouGov poll sponsored by The Economist found 51% of participants plan to support Trump in the primary while 12% will support Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and 10% report they are unsure.
Given his consistent lead, there has been speculation over who Trump will select as a running mate. In January 2023, The Guardian published a master list of possible candidates that included Carlson, former Democratic congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem and South Carolina Senator Tim Scott.
