L.A. Sheriff Calls Larry Elder Attack Hate Crime, Urges Outrage from Politicians

Larry Elder is the victim of a hate crime -- that's how L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villanueva is viewing a woman's attempt to egg the gubernatorial candidate, and he's calling out "woke" politicians over the incident.

Villanueva hopped on the Sheriff Dept.'s Twitter account to sound off about Wednesday's campaign trail incident ... wondering out loud how it's not a hate crime?

If you missed it, Elder -- the conservative talk radio host-turned candidate -- was in Venice Beach when a white woman wearing a gorilla mask with pink hair threw the egg (she missed) and punched one of Elder's security staffers.

The Sheriff answered his own question, tweeting ... "'woke privilege' means a white woman can wear a gorilla mask and attack a black man without fear of being called a racist."

He also, mockingly, wondered why all the normally outraged politicians aren't speaking up in Elder's defense.

Villanueva clearly thinks it's hypocrisy, and there's no outrage purely because Elder is a conservative, who's also the leading Republican candidate in California's recall election.

As we reported, someone also fired a pellet gun Wednesday, hitting one of Elder's staffers. No one was injured, but cops are searching for that suspect as well as the egg tosser and a bald man ... also seen striking one of Elder's staffers.

We spoke to Elder at his next stop, and he chalked up the incident to folks being angry about the homeless situation. He also shaded Newsom.