Overview: Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco has announced plans to run for Governor in 2026, replacing current California Governor Gavin Newsom. Bianco, a Republican and critic of Newsom’s COVID-19 response, has selected former state senator Gloria Romero as his running mate. Despite facing a Civil Rights investigation, Bianco has a “tough on crime” reputation and has been critical of immigration-related actions by former President Joe Biden and supportive of immigration actions by current President Donald Trump.
Ellen Perrault
In an unsurprising announcement on Wednesday, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco announced plans to run for governor in 2026, after Gavin Newsom’s term ends.
A Republican and relentless critic of Newsom, who garnered national attention for his push back against the governor’s orders during the peak of the COVID-19 crisis, Bianco is a strong advocate of President Donald J. Trump.
Like other politically aspiring Republicans across the country, Bianco has heightened his public profile by being a frequent presence on Fox News where Republicans enhance their visibility and strengthen their bonafides as party loyalists.
According to reports, Bianco has selected as his running mate former state senator, Gloria Romero. Romero who once represented East Los Angeles, is a former Democrat who last served in the state legislature in 2010.
Romero switched parties last September when she also stated her intentions to vote for then presidential candidate Trump. At the time she stated, “Perhaps my biggest disconnect with my old party has been over school choice, education freedom and the right to have quality schools for all.”
Even as Bianco enters the race he remains under a Civil Rights investigation. In February 2023, California State Attorney General Rob Bonta announced an investigation into the Riverside Sheriff’s Department to determine whether the sheriff’s office has engaged in a pattern or practice of unconstitutional or unlawful policing.
Bianco has a “tough on crime” reputation that may have been buoyed by the success of Proposition 36, a measure supported by Bianco and approved by Californians last November with 68% of the vote.
Bianco is also tough on immigration. He was fiercely critical of immigration related actions by former President Joe Biden and is strongly supportive of the aggressive immigration actions currently underway by the Trump Administration.
His aggressive stance on immigration led many to wonder what role the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department may play in the president’s immigration plans–which would of course be against the law. However, in a recent Instagram post Bianco denied these allegations stating, “Let me make this perfectly clear. The Riverside County Sheriff’s Office and your deputies have not, are not and will not engage in any type of immigration enforcement.” Adding, “That is the sole responsibility of the federal government.”