Larry Elder claims CA Secretary of State Weber 'targeted' him; intentionally left him off Gov race ballot

close

Video

I was 'targeted,' not allowed to run for Governor in California

Gubernatorial candidate tells Tucker Carlson being barred from the recall election 'isn't racism, it's face-ism'

Conservative-libertarian radio host Larry Elder told Fox News on Tuesday that despite filing the required paperwork to run for governor, Secretary of State Shirley Weber is "targeting" him because he has been a prominent voice in Los Angeles and on the political right for decades.

Elder told "Tucker Carlson Tonight" that he is suing Weber, a Democrat, after his name was conspicuously absent from a list of 41 declared candidates who will run in a forthcoming election, should Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom be successfully recalled this fall.

"We filed a lawsuit last night. We are probably going to have a hearing tomorrow," Elder said, accusing Weber of ironically abusing a law California Democrats passed to target former President Donald Trump's tax returns.

"[P]ursuant to Election Code section 8903 the Secretary of State has a duty to remedy any redacting errors and provide a clean copy to the voters," said Elder’s complaint, which was filed Monday in California Superior Court. "As such, the Secretary of State is illegally precluding a qualified candidate from the ballot in violation of the law."

Weber was blasted on Twitter by Elder supporters this week after she tweeted a message criticizing people trying to "weaken" others' votes:

"If they weren't afraid of your voice, they wouldn't be coming after it," Weber tweeted.

"Is that why you removed Larry Elder from the ballot," one man replied, while a woman responded that Weber is "silencing" Elder.

Elder said the new law demands that all candidates file comprehensive tax information with Weber's office in order to appear on the ballot, and that he himself submitted more than 300 pages of filings and 5 years worth of returns – but that the discrepancy appears to be that he "didn't redact something that should have been redacted or redacted something that shouldn't have been."

Elder posited that the law allows for Weber to "correct minor discrepancies" and that if indeed one has occurred, the secretary conveniently declined to do so.

He added that a private senior citizen, Betty Chu, filed her own lawsuit alleging that Weber is depriving her of the opportunity to vote for him.

Video

"I'm going to be on the ballot. We are going to file a lawsuit. We will take it up to the California Supreme Court. This law was designed to make Donald Trump turn over five years of tax returns in order to be eligible to run in 2020. It was litigated all the way up to the left-wing California Supreme Court," he said, adding that the liberal court unanimously declared the law unconstitutional for presidential elections – but left the door open for its enforcement in local and gubernatorial elections.

However, given that lack of clarity, Elder claimed it is unclear whether it applies to recall situations.

Elder, who is Black, told host Tucker Carlson some supporters claim the discrimination is racism – but he dismissed those claims, instead calling the discrimination "Face-ism" – because he has a highly recognizable and popular persona.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

"Because they know I'm the guy they can take this guy down. I've been talking about this issue for some 30 years. I'm on every major market in California," said Elder, who added he is second in statewide name recognition only to Olympic track-and-field champion Caitlyn Jenner, who is also running as a Republican. 

"People know me. I'm from the hood. I'm from the inner city. I can talk firsthand about the declining quality of schools. I can talk firsthand about why we have crime, while we have rising homelessness," said Elder, adding that his high school alma mater, Crenshaw High School, was featured in 1991's "Boys N The Hood" and infamously has a 2% mathematics proficiency.