Firebrand sheriff and Fox News favorite considering run for California governor

Southern California Sheriff Chad Bianco, an unsparing critic of Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and a conservative fixture on Fox News, is considering a run for California governor in 2026, POLITICO has learned.

Republican activists across the region have been talking up Bianco, the elected sheriff of Riverside County, as a future Sacramento aspirant as he bolsters his firebrand profile on issues of crime and punishment.

Bianco has come out hard for a proposed ballot measure to overhaul Proposition 47, the politically volatile ballot initiative that downgraded penalties for some drug and property crimes.

A political adviser for Bianco told POLITICO the sheriff has been approached in recent months by a number of elected officials and leaders about joining the crowded race for governor. Republicans are a longshot to win, but Bianco could spoil the contest for a second Democrat by consolidating the right in the primary.

“California has a lot of problems and they’re looking outside the Sacramento political class to bring the state back,” said his adviser, Nick Mirman.

“No decision has been made and he’s continuing to have conversations,” Mirman added.

Bianco is rising up the ranks of the statewide sheriff’s association, speaking out about California’s Covid restrictions and confronting controversies along the way.

In a 2021 interview with National Public Radio member station KPCC in Los Angeles, Bianco acknowledged he briefly belonged to the extremist Oath Keepers group in 2014 after internal emails revealing its members were leaked.

Bianco contended that the group — part of the far-right patriot militia movement whose leaders were sentenced to decades in prison for orchestrating the plot that culminated with the Jan. 6, 2021, attacks on the Capitol — was not the organization he paid to sign onto.

“They certainly don’t promote violence and government overthrow. They stand for protecting the Constitution,” Bianco said in the interview.

He described the Oath Keepers involved in Jan. 6 as “a few fringe people.”

Bianco’s advocacy has often drawn criticism from liberal editorial boards across the state.

Last year, he joined Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ coalition of sheriffs to address the influx of migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border — just before the then-presidential hopeful toured a section of the divide in Texas.

The Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice, immigrant advocates in San Bernardino, accused Bianco of demonstrating “a troubling disregard for the principles of justice, equality, and human rights.”

As he campaigns for the Proposition 47 changes, Bianco has made Newsom a top target, often on Fox News, the conservative television network the governor closely monitors.

Bianco, chair of the campaign’s law enforcement coalition, was a recent guest on Fox News’ digital station, where he accused Newsom and top Democrats of being unwilling to change the 2014 initiative because that would be viewed as an admission that their criminal justice reforms failed.

Newsom and other state leaders favor passing legislation they believe will address drug and property crime without changing the voter-approved initiative.

“The reality of a leader, a true leader, is someone that can say, ‘Look, we had good intentions of something, but we had some unintended consequences that now we have to fix,’” Bianco told Fox.

Bianco would be the most high-profile Republican in a field dominated by Democrats. Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis was the first to declare her candidacy last year and has built a fundraising lead. Former Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond followed and have amassed endorsements from state and local officials. Former state Controller Betty Yee formally jumped into the race late last month, and Attorney General Rob Bonta is poised to enter the contest sometime this year.