Elder ends tour of California homeless camp early after confrontation

California gubernatorial candidate Larry Elder (R) ended his tour of homeless encampments in Venice, Calif., early Wednesday after he was confronted by a group of homeless people and advocates, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Elder, who arrived in his “Recall Express” campaign bus, spent about 12 minutes in the area before quickly leaving the scene after a group of people surrounded him and screamed at him to “get the hell out of here,” the Times reported.

#HappeningNow – the homeless who live on Hampton and 3rd Ave in #venice don’t seem happy to see @larryelder – some are shouting at him to leave and now following him as he tours an encampment @ABC7 pic.twitter.com/CLMVwKskES

— Josh Haskell (@abc7JoshHaskell) September 8, 2021

Just before Elder departed, what appeared to be an egg was thrown in his direction and a staff member was physically assaulted, according to the Times. 

A woman on a bicycle wearing a gorilla mask threw the egg-looking object at Elder. The woman appeared to be white, and ape characterizations have been employed as racist images of Black people for centuries, the Times noted. 

Breaking: A flying egg narrowly missed the back of recall candidate @larryelder‘s head after it was thrown by an activist wearing a gorilla mask in Venice. A scuffle broke out and the candidate was escorted into an SUV.

Here’s the raw (pun intended)
CW: f-bombs@SpecNews1SoCal pic.twitter.com/FeFx3wnuSD

— Kate Cagle (@KateCagle) September 8, 2021

The woman then attempted to hit someone who appeared to be one of Elder’s campaign staff members just before Elder was ushered into an SUV, according to the Times. 

Elder addressed the incident in a tweet, saying that the “intolerant left will not stop us.”

Today I kicked off the Recall Express bus tour. Before we even left Los Angeles, my security detail was physically assaulted, shot with a pellet gun, and hit with projectiles. The intolerant left will not stop us. We will recall Gavin Newsom. We will save California.

— Larry Elder (@larryelder) September 9, 2021

“He has no business down here,” a homeless woman, who is also pregnant, told the Times just before Elder left. “If you ain’t going to help us, move … on.”

Elder has emerged as the front-runner of the roughly 40 candidates campaigning to take Newsom’s place in the Sept. 14 recall election. However, recent polling has shown that Newsom is likely to survive the recall.