Republican candidate in California Larry Elder received a hostile reception when he toured a homeless camp in Venice on Wednesday, with a woman in a pink gorilla mask throwing an egg that lost her head. host of the radio program.
The video posted on Twitter by Spectrum News journalist Kate Cagle showed the unidentified black-clad woman riding her bike a few feet from Elder’s left shoulder before letting it fly with the missile.
When the woman confronted a member of Elder’s security team, she told him, “Get your hands off me, mom! Touch me again! Touch me again! ”Then he directed a left hook towards the man, causing others to intervene and break the confrontation.
The security guard was threatened by another man dressed in black before a second woman struck him on the side of the head. When the Elder team member was driven, the candidate was wrapped in a white SUV. Someone in the crowd shouted that he was “pulling that piece of st out of here” as the vehicle pulled away.
The Los Angeles Times estimated that Elder spent 12 minutes in Venice before his visit was interrupted by the ugly incident. Sarah Duke, a homeless pregnant woman living in the camp the candidate was visiting told the newspaper that Elder “has no business here.”
“If you don’t help us, keep going … go ahead,” Duke added.
Elder, who had voted in the memorial election on Wednesday, Sept. 14, later tweeted that he had begun his “Recall Express” bus tour with a visit to Venice.
“Before I left Los Angeles, my security detail was physically assaulted, shot with a pellet gun and hit with projectiles.” He wrote. “The intolerant left will not stop us. We will remember Gavin Newsom. We will save California. “
Elder is one of 46 ballot candidates in next week’s election – the second such vote to be held in California in less than two decades. Voters filling out a ballot paper will first be asked if they will remember Newsom, a Democrat. If a simple majority votes “yes,” any of the 46 candidates getting the most votes will take their place as governor.
Activists hoping to remember Newsom are facing an upward rise, if the latest poll is any indication. An average survey on the FiveThirtyEight website shows that support for keeping Newsom in charge is 12.3 percentage points higher than support for removing him.
The incumbent governor was bolstered Wednesday by strong support from Vice President Kamala Harris, a fellow Bay Area native who joined Newsom at a rally in San Leandro, just south of his hometown, Oakland.