Either California’s Secretary of State is lying or Larry Elder is an idiot. Since we know with absolute certainty the latter is untrue, that leaves us to conclude the Democrats have conspired to omit the Republican candidate with the best chance of driving voters to remove California Governor Gavin Newsom from office.
A preliminary list of gubernatorial candidates for the September recall vote did not include Elder. The national radio host and popular conservative pundit claims to have filed all of the necessary paperwork to be included, but the Secretary of State’s office informed the campaign late Sunday evening that they were missing tax documents. Elder posted his response with a threat:
“We have complied with all requirements to be a candidate. Why are they using this new law against me? Where is the precedent? They are claiming on Saturday they had notified me of what and why of their action. They did not notify me until Sunday evening.
“Politicians know I’m the only candidate who can beat Gavin Newsom — and that why they don’t want me on the ballot. They’re using shenanigans that they invested to block the doors to the Governor’s Office and make sure they stay in power.
“This doesn’t pass the smell test. The Secretary of State has invited me to sue to protect my right to be a candidate. And what about the right of the people to have the opportunity to vote for me? Unless cooler heads prevail in the Office of Secretary of State Monday morning and they walk back their unprecedented refusal to put me on the ballot, I will accpet the invitation of the Secretary of State to sue on behalf of myself and the people. The voters won’t stand for it.”
https://t.co/mnvU6rOkTD#RecallGavinNewsom #WeveGotAStateToSave pic.twitter.com/sSxbDWKUXm
— Larry Elder (@larryelder) July 19, 2021
The final certified list will be released on Wednesday, July 21st. It does not give Elder’s team much time to go through the proper channels to get on, but that seems to be the point. The Secretary of State’s office was aware last Friday of any missing documentation. They should have informed candidates who were missing paperwork at that point instead of waiting until the preliminary list was released.
Elder represents a major threat to the Newsom governorship. The ballot will include two questions. The first is the important one: Should Gavin Newsom be recalled? If a majority of voters agree that he should, than whoever has a plurality of votes in the second question about his replacement will be the next governor.
Elder is able to drive more national attention and all-important fundraising to the race. His presence on the ballot can turn the tide on the first question by driving more Republican and “No Party Affiliation” voters to engage and oust Newsom. Democrats know this which is why Elder is their top target. If they can quash his candidacy before it even starts, they increase their chances of winning on the first ballot question.
All of this could backfire on Democrats. If they’re successful in keeping Elder off the ballot, they’ll be driving more anger among Republican voters. That’s not to say it’s better for the GOP if Elder is suppressed, but the Democrats’ goal of keeping Newsom-hating voters placated could end up having the opposite effect. They could prevent a popular candidate from driving voters, but in doing so could motivate Republicans to fight even harder against the obvious corruption coming from the Secretary of State’s office.
If Elder jumps through their hoops and supplies the “missing” paperwork before the certified list is released, then he must be on the ballot. If not, he must sue to reveal the dirty deeds being perpetrated against California by the Democrats.