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Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco might run for California governor in 2026, an adviser said Friday, April 12, 2024. (Courtesy of Riverside County Sheriff’s Department)
Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco might run for California governor in 2026, an adviser said Friday, April 12, 2024. (Courtesy of Riverside County Sheriff’s Department)
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Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco is considering running as a Republican for governor in 2026, potentially bringing an outspoken conservative voice to what’s already a crowded field hoping to succeed term-limited .

Bianco did not immediately respond Friday morning, April 12, to a request for comment. he was considering a gubernatorial bid.

But , a Sacramento-based political and public affairs consultant working with Bianco, said the sheriff has been asked to run “by several folks across the state (of) all different kinds of political persuasions.”

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“I think people are looking for someone with his leadership qualities and someone who is outside of the Sacramento political elite bubble,” Mirman said.

“The same people who put the state in the mess that it’s in now can’t be trusted to fix it. And folks like the sheriff for his leadership qualities and a lot of people think that he could be the man to bring the state back.”

There’s no timetable for Bianco to make a decision on running, Mirman said.

“I think any formal announcement, if there is one, is far off.”

, Bianco, with 61% of the vote, could run for governor without having to leave the sheriff’s office. Thanks to a state law , Bianco’s term doesn’t expire until the end of 2028.

Since becoming sheriff, Bianco has established a reputation for blunt talk, tough-on-crime messaging and a willingness to take on what he believes are radical left activists who want to defund the police and endanger the public.

During the pandemic, he made headlines for calling ɫ̳om a bully intended to stop the spread of the virus. Saying he’s “anti-vax for Chad,” — unvaccinated staff still had to be routinely tested — while doubting the virus’s severity.

, Bianco called California “once the greatest state in this country.” He also said the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests “always turned to riots” — though a study found 93% were peaceful — and criminal justice reforms from Sacramento “allowed for the murder” of a deputy .

More recently, the sheriff, a frequent guest on conservative podcasts and other right-of-center media, to attack Prop. 47, a 2014 voter-approved ballot measure that reduced penalties for some drug and property crimes. He chairs a committee spearheading a proposed 2024 ballot initiative to amend Prop. 47.

Bianco faces considerable headwinds if he moves forward with a gubernatorial bid.

California hasn’t elected a GOP governor since Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006, and , compared to 24% for Republicans.

A run for governor likely would bring increased scrutiny to Bianco’s past, . Bianco has said he was a dues-paying member for a year in 2014 — “I don’t even remember it,” he said in 2021.

Bianco has said he learned of the Oath Keepers from the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, with which he was affiliated at the time. Extremist watchdogs say the association is an anti-government extremist group that believes sheriffs’ powers supersede the federal government’s authority.

While the gubernatorial election is 2 1/2 years away, it’s already attracted several candidates with access to deep pockets of political cash.

, and are among the Democrats who have announced they’ll run. Another, California Attorney General Rob Bonta, at some point.

California gubernatorial elections advance the top two vote-getters, regardless of party, out of the primary. Someone more moderate than Bianco “might fare better in a general election,” Marcia Godwin, professor of public administration at the University of La Verne, said via email.

“A Bianco candidacy could play out in the same way as the (2024) Steve Garvey campaign for U.S. Senate,” Godwin said. “If he truly did gain party backing, he could advance within a crowded Democratic field.”

“However, Bianco could act more as a foil for whoever is the (Democratic) frontrunner to run compare-and-contrast ads to set up a presumably easier general election race than a gubernatorial one that theoretically could be Democrat vs. Democrat.”

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