Larry Elder, a conservative talk radio host who was a breakout star on the right after running unsuccessfully in California’s recall election in 2021, said on Thursday evening that he was running for president.
He made the announcement on Tucker Carlson’s show on Fox News, joining a growing Republican field that is led by former President Donald J. Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, who has not yet made his run official.
“My father was a World War II vet,” Mr. Elder told Mr. Carlson. “He served on the island of Guam. He was a Marine.” He added: “My older brother, late older brother, Kirk, was in the Navy during the Vietnam era. My little brother Dennis actually served in Vietnam in the Army. I’m the only one who didn’t serve, and I don’t feel good about that. I feel I have a moral, religious and a patriotic duty to give back to a country that’s been so good to my family and me. And that is why I am doing this.”
Mr. Elder, a Los Angeles Republican who bills himself as “the sage from South Central,” was the top vote-getter among challengers to Gov. Gavin Newsom in the attempted recall, and would have succeeded him had voters not overwhelmingly chosen to keep Mr. Newsom in office.
During his run, Mr. Elder earned critics in both parties, with some Republicans calling him an inexperienced opportunist. The recall’s lead proponent, a Republican and a retired sheriff’s sergeant, declined to back him.
Explaining his decision to run on Twitter on Thursday, Mr. Elder said: “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.”