Politics

California Republican Assembly, Top Democrat, Endorse Larry Elder for Governor

As the race heats up, Elder has been on the campaign trail making his case and telling voters why he is the best candidate to be the next governor of California.

Published

3 years ago

September 8, 2021

Isabelle Price

Larry Elder, Photo courtesy of California Black Media

To no avail, the California Republican Assembly (CRA) says it has been trying to organize a debate between Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles-based conservative radio talk show host Larry Elder ahead of the gubernatorial recall election September 14.

Elder is the only Black candidate among GOP frontrunners vying to replace Newsom in the upcoming California recall election. He has also almost consistently polled among the top three choices of Californians who support removing the current governor from office.

CRA President Johnnie Morgan, who is also African American, said he reached out to several political organizations and media outlets around the state attempting to make the Newsom-Elder faceoff happen. All of them, he says, returned with a similar response: that timing would not permit a public discussion.

“No one was interested at this time to host it,” Morgan said. “We were looking to have a debate just between Elder and Newsom. It would only be fitting that (Elder) be allowed to tell people why he’s the best person to take over that position. And Newsom could tell people why he should remain in that position and defend his record.”

For much of his campaign to replace Newsom, Elder’s team has had to assume a defensive stance, explaining disparaging statements he has made about Blacks, women, climate change and other topics. The state is also investigating whether he improperly disclosed some of his sources of income.

Elder’s ex-fiancée Alexandra Datig has also accused Elder of verbal and emotional abuse. One incident, she claims, involved Elder intimidating her with a .45 revolver gun. The candidate has dismissed Datig’s allegations, calling them a “distraction.”

By now, most Californians have received a vote-by-mail ballot and have begun to turn them at ballot boxes, county voting centers or by mail.

As the race heats up, Elder has been on the campaign trail making his case and telling voters why he is the best candidate to be the next governor of California.

He has convinced one high-profile state Democrat who endorsed him last week. Former California State Senate Majority Leader Gloria Romero, a Democrat who represented the 24^th district in Los Angeles County, endorsed Elder at the end of August. Romero was a state lawmaker from 1998 to 2010, serving in both the Assembly and Senate. She and former state Lt. Governor Abel Maldonado, a Republican, participated in a news conference last week to announce their support for Elder.

Romero, a school-choice advocate, said she “along with about 1.7 million Californians, signed the recall petition” that triggered the election to recall Newsom.

“This election, let’s be clear, is not about political parties. This is not about a rightwing controversy,” Romero said in her opening statement. “This is about Californians using our voice and our rights in a recall process that some of the party elites tried to stifle, but the people came through. It’s time for a change. We can do better.”

“At the end of the day, we need some shaking up in Sacramento,” Maldonado said. “What better than a gentleman, a brother from South Central Los Angeles who gets up every day to make a difference around our country and around our state. (Elder) you are the solution for Californians.”

The CRA endorsed Elder, an attorney, author, and broadcaster, for governor at its convention last month in Valencia. CRA, founded in 1935, is the oldest Republican volunteer organization in California that endorses Republican candidates. Chartered by the Republican Party, CRA has close to 2,000 members and 43 chapters across the state.

Under CRA bylaws, endorsement of statewide candidates requires the support of two-thirds of the delegates at the convention.

Elder garnered the support of 68% of the delegates.

As California’s oldest and most influential Republican volunteer organization, Morgan said, CRA’s endorsement is “coveted” for those candidates who meet the organization’s high standards — conservative, principled, electable, and the overwhelming choice of CRA’s membership.

“The other (Republican) candidates have good records and they have been working for the party,” Morgan said, explaining why CRA chose Elders. “But none of them have distinguished themselves to the extent that Elder has. Elder would be the governor for the people.”

On the gubernatorial recall ballot, on the first question, Morgan urges a YES vote to remove Newsom from the office of governor. On the second question, CRA endorses Elder to succeed Newsom as governor if he is recalled.

“So many businesses have left California due to Newsom’s policies,” Morgan said. “Some of those people that took off are probably thinking they acted prematurely. He is just making life more difficult for citizens. Especially for people with average means and who are business-minded.”

Isabelle Price

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Activism

LIVE! — TOWN HALL ON RACISM AND ITS IMPACT — THURS. 11.14.24 5PM PST

Join us for a LIVE Virtual Town Hall on the Impact of Racism hosted by Post News Group Journalist Carla Thomas and featuring Oakland, CA NAACP President Cynthia Adams & other Special Guests.
Thursday, November 14, 2024, 5 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. PST

Published

5 days ago

November 12, 2024

Oakland Post

Discussion Topics:
• Since the pandemic, what battles have the NAACP fought nationally, and how have they impacted us locally?
• What trends are you seeing concerning Racism? Is it more covert or overt?
• What are the top 5 issues resulting from racism in our communities?
• How do racial and other types of discrimination impact local communities?
• What are the most effective ways our community can combat racism and hate?

Your questions and comments will be shared LIVE with the moderators and viewers during the broadcast.

STREAMED LIVE!
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Oakland Post: Week of November 6 – 12, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of November 6 – 12, 2024

Published

1 week ago

November 9, 2024

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

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Barbara Lee

Congresswoman Barbara Lee Reflects on Historic Moment Less Than One Week from Election Day

Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-12) today released a piece on Medium reflecting on Vice President Kamala Harris’ historic presidential campaign 50 years after Lee worked on the presidential campaign of Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm.

Published

2 weeks ago

November 4, 2024

Oakland Post

Congresswoman Barbara Lee.

Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-12) today released a piece on Medium reflecting on Vice President Kamala Harris’ historic presidential campaign 50 years after Lee worked on the presidential campaign of Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm:

“As Election Day approaches, I’m reflecting on a few dates and numbers that mean something to me.

Zero: the number of Black members in Congress 56 years ago. Next Congress, we hope to swear in over 60 members in the Congressional Black Caucus.

Three: The number of Black women to ever serve in the United States Senate since the first Congress in 1789.

Two: The number of Black women that will be elected to the Senate this year alone if we do our job.

1972: The first time a Black woman, Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, ran for president in one of the major political parties of the United States.

Zero: the number of Black women to ever serve as president of the United States.

IF we do the work, we can change that with President Kamala Harris.

As I reflect on what would be Congresswoman Chisholm’s 100th birthday next month, I could not help but remember that my first official involvement in U.S. politics was working for her presidential campaign in 1972.

Over 50 years later, I have been involved in every single campaign since. Shirley was my mentor — she was a bold visionary, a progressive woman who understood that working together in coalitions was the only way to make life better for everyone, to build an equitable society and democracy that lived up to the creed of “liberty and justice for all.”

The historic moment we are in today is not lost on me. I have had the privilege to have known Vice President Kamala Harris for over three decades. She, after all, is a daughter of the East Bay. She, like Shirley, truly is a fighter for the people.

And I know she can move our country forward in a new way. As a member of her National Advisory Board, I have campaigned across our country to help take her message, her legacy of service, and her “to-do list,” as she says, to voters who were almost starting to feel hopeless, but are now feeling hopeful once again, captured by the politics joy and the bright possibilities brought upon by a possible Harris-Walz administration.

Recently, I visited churches in North Carolina with members of the Congressional Black Caucus. The chair of our CBC political action committee, Chairman Gregory Meeks from New York’s fifth district, eloquently and powerfully presented a vision of what Dr. Maya Angelou wrote in her famous poem, “And Still I Rise:” “I am the dream and the hope of the slave.”

Meeks remarked that on Jan. 20, 2025, we will observe the birthday of our drum major for justice, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

He also described that on Jan. 20, IF we do the work — if we knock on doors, if we make those phone calls, if we spread our message — standing on the podium at the U.S. Capitol will be the first Black speaker of the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries.

In the wings will be over 60 members of the Congressional Black Caucus. Holding Frederick Douglass’ Bible will be the first African American woman appointed to the highest court of the land, Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.

She will be swearing-in the first Black woman to serve as president, Kamala Harris, in front of the shining white dome of the United States Capitol, built by enslaved Black people.

In front of her and beyond, the tens of millions of Black men and women who voted for her. The world will witness the hope and the dreams of our ancestors ushering in a new way forward.

As I sat in front of the stage this week at the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., as Vice President Harris delivered remarks with the Oval Office behind her, I could not help but feel that our country was ready for this historic moment.

We are not only voting for a Black woman as Commander in Chief of the wealthiest and most powerful country in the world. We are definitively stating that we will not allow the clocks of freedom and justice to be turned back.

We are voting for our ancestors’ hopes and dreams. We are voting for the generations that will come after us, long after we are gone. We are voting for Vice President Kamala Harris.

Let’s get this done.