Larry Elder, a conservative talk show host, ended his campaign for president on Thursday and expressed support for former president Donald Trump.
“As I look at the path forward, and after careful consideration and consultation with my campaign team, I have made the difficult decision to suspend my campaign,” Elder wrote in a statement on social media.
Before announcing his decision to drop out, Elder met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago and attended the previous president’s fundraiser on Thursday, a source told CNN.
“Now that I am exiting the race, I am proud to announce my endorsement of Donald Trump for President of the United States,” Elder said. “His leadership has been instrumental in advancing conservative, America-first principles and policies that have benefited our great nation. We must unite behind Donald Trump to beat Joe Biden and fight back against Biden’s unprecedented election interference and the left’s destruction of America.”
Honored to have just met with @realDonaldTrump to lend him my endorsement for President. I am grateful for the support I received from so many of you across the country. Statement below: pic.twitter.com/1LE9PMtv7c
— Larry Elder (@larryelder) October 26, 2023
Elder, a California native, never secured enough support from donors and in polls to participate in candidate debates, as required by the Republican National Committee, reports The New York Times.
“Throughout my campaign,” Elder wrote in his statement, “I have been steadfast in my belief that the biggest issues facing our nation are the crisis of fatherlessness, the dangerous lie that America is systemically racist, the need for an amendment to the constitution to set federal spending to a fixed percentage of the GDP — otherwise government gets bigger whether Republicans or Democrats are in charge, and the need to remove the Soros-backed DAs across the country who refuse to endorse the law.”