Sheriff Chad Bianco Flirts with Gubernatorial Bid

What’s Driving Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco to Eye Governor’s Mansion?

By now, it is no secret that Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco is looking to occupy the three-story, thirty-room, Second Empire-Italianate Victorian mansion in Sacramento currently occupied by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The Urban Cowboy is being coy about whether he is definitely making a run for it, but odds are he will. He has nothing to lose and everything to gain. If he runs and loses, he remains sheriff.

That’s because Riverside County’s elected district attorney and sheriff will each get an extra two years in office under a new state law that moves the next election for the offices to 2028. In 2022, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law AB 759, which Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento, had introduced.

The goal of the bill is to get more voters to turn out at the polls to elect local law-enforcement leaders. Until now, sheriffs and DAs have been elected the same years as the governor; they will now be elected the same years as the president when more people typically vote.

Bianco has long criticized Newsom, most notably in 2020 when he publicly vowed not to enforce safety mandates during the COVID-19 Pandemic. He made headlines the following year when he announced that he wouldn’t impose vaccine mandates for Sheriff’s Department employees in Riverside County.

When Riverside County Supervisors considered separating the offices of the coroner and sheriff, Bianco told Uken Report he welcomed the final “product of reason” from the executive office. Turns out, the offices will not be separated.

Because of these stances and others, he’s become known as a firebrand.

Bianco is self-confident; some call it arrogant. He is part charm, part piss and vinegar.

So, what led to Bianco, 56, a sheriff now in his second term, flirting with the idea of leading the world’s fifth-largest economy?

Over the past year or so, Bianco told Uken Report that he has traveled across the state as part of his leadership duties with the California State Sheriff’s Association.  He serves as secretary for the group.

“I have seen firsthand how the quality-of-life issues of Californians are being negatively impacted by our border crisis in San Diego, homeless issues in our urban centers, and drug and crime increases across all our communities,” Bianco said. “Everywhere I go I hear from people across the political spectrum that they are looking for a real leader to bring this state back to its former glory and the California Dream instead of the nightmare so many are living.”

Bianco was first elected in 2018 after unseating an incumbent and won re-election in 2022 with 61% of the vote.

“I have been asked by community leaders, business owners, and elected officials from across the state to consider running for Governor because I have the ability and tools required to lead and bring people together to find solutions to the problems ailing us today,” Bianco told Uken Report. “I have not made a decision, and I will continue to have conversations with people from across the state about what a Great California Restart would look like.”

Joy Miedecke, president of the Palm Desert-based East Valley Republican Women Patriots, said she is among those encouraging him to run.

“Remember our Sheriff handles the largest budget in the county,” Miedecke said. “He knows what to do with our money. Our Sheriff keeps law and order. He knows what to do with manpower. Our Sheriff Chad Bianco is a good man, a solid man, a man who knows right from wrong. A man who has experienced the heartaches in California and seen it go further and further down daily with the leadership that we have. California is in a terrible way and only a man like Chad Bianco who has stood up for us, stood up for law and order, and stood up for what is right should become our governor. If he decides, I absolutely endorse him. East Valley Republican Women Patriots has 2000-plus members. I can tell you (that) people come into our office daily and they say, ‘What can I do to make sure Chad Bianco runs for governor?’ ”

Right now, Bianco said, he is focused on his role as the Sheriff of Riverside County.

“My main objective is to provide the best law enforcement services for our residents and to make sure we are successful in our initiative to reform Prop 47,” Bianco said. “We are working hard to gain the signatures necessary for qualification and we believe it will soon qualify to be on the November ballot.”

As Sheriff, Bianco oversees the County’s five jail facilities, six court buildings, a civil bureau, the Coroner’s Bureau, Public Administrator’s Office, twelve patrol stations, seventeen contract cities, 4,200 dedicated employees and an operating budget of just over one billion dollars.

Look for something more definitive from Bianco later this year or in January.