Conservative radio host Larry Elder has announced his campaign for U.S. president in the 2024 election. He is the sixth Republican candidate to join the race — a field that is expected to grow.

Elder unsuccessfully ran in the recall election against Gov. Gavin Newsom but did receive the most votes amongst all the other candidates.

Elder joined “Inside the Issues” host Alex Cohen to talk about his recently launched campaign.

A Republican hasn’t held a statewide position in California since Arnold Schwarzenegger left office in January 2007. This is a main reason why Elder chose not to run for governor in 2022 but feels he has a better chance of being elected president.

“The math is daunting," he said. "Republicans are outnumbered by non-Republicans who are registered, three to one in California. That’s not true nationwide. Nationwide, America is a 50-50 state."

Public safety is a top priority for Elder. He’s called for the ending of anti-cop rhetoric, which he believes has led to cops not being able to do their job effectively.

A tactic Elder says he will use to improve public safety is to get rid of district attorneys that he deems as soft on crime.

“Since I believe the number one job of government is to protect people and property, maybe we can tie some sort of requirement that if you’re going to get these government jobs, you need to do your job and you fight crime,” Elder said.

Another issue Elder believes to address is absentee fathers, calling for investments to create mentorship programs for young people to have advocates to turn to for guidance to prevent them from ending up in the criminal justice system.

“What we’ve done is we’ve incentivized women to marry the government, and we’ve incentivized men to abandon their financial and moral responsibility,” Elder said.

The race for the Republican nomination is going to be a tough challenger for Elder, as early polling shows former President Donald Trump as the clear front-runner. But this doesn’t deter Elder, who cites Trump’s 2016 campaign as a reason he has a chance at becoming the next commander in chief.

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