Larry Elder says he was running against 'the left-wing media,' not Gavin Newsom

(Image credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images)

published 15 September 2021

Republican California recall candidate Larry Elder conceded on Tuesday night, telling his supporters, "Let's be gracious in defeat. By the way, we may have lost the battle, but we are going to win the war."

Elder was one of the 46 candidates on the recall ballot; if Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) had been ousted from office, the candidate with the most votes would have replaced him. Earlier in the week, Elder dodged questions about whether he would accept the results, and sponsored a website that claimed he lost the election before it even took place.

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During his remarks, Elder declared that he "wasn't running against Gavin Newsom, I was running against the left-wing media ... and we still scared the bejesus out of them." He also denied that "systemic racism" is a problem, brought up former President Barack Obama, saying he has embraced "this bogus Black Lives Matter movement," and stated that his own "movement is about bringing people together and dealing with the problems we have."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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