Repub Candidate for Gov Hits Eureka With Tough-on-Crime Message

Chad Bianco, candidate for CA Governor, in Eureka. [All photos and videos by Ryan Hutson]

Crime and punishment, oil drilling and water storage, plus the elimination of major state regulatory bodies were all on the table, alongside a Q&A that ranged from grizzly bears to gun rights.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ Telling local voters that California’s government “has a love affair with criminals,” Riverside Sheriff Chad Bianco brought his messaging to Humboldt County voters without mincing words.

Bianco has been the Riverside County Sheriff since 2019 and gained national attention in 2020 when he announced he would not enforce California’s COVID-19 restrictions. He was the first major Republican to enter the 2026 governor’s race, and on Thursday he made his case to rural Northern California voters: Sacramento is broken, the Democrats who broke it can’t fix it, but he can.

The barrel room at Old Growth Cellars was transformed for the evening, and the warehouse was standing room only once the program got underway. In the audience were several familiar faces including Supervisor Michelle Bushnell, Sheriff William Honsal, and District Attorney Stacey Eads. Drawing laughs and applause from those in attendance, Bianco drew a distinct line in the political sands of California as he carved out his agenda for Humboldt voters.

Chad Bianco Republican meet n greet in Eureka featured a silent auction “opportunity drawing” fundraiser by the local chapter of the Federation of Republican Women, to support the Charlie Kirk Memorial Fund. [Photo by Ryan Hutson]

‘I Will Cut Your Rates in Half’

Bianco addressed affordability concerns in California, describing his own adult children’s struggle to get by in the state where he raised them. “They will be lucky if they ever can afford to buy a home,” he told the crowd. “They can’t afford gas. They can’t afford groceries. They can’t afford rent.” His youngest daughter, he said, pays $1,000 more per month in rent than his own mortgage. He noted “It’s nothing like my house.” The culprit, Bianco argued, is not the market but decades of failed government policy, and he said millions of Californians, including his own kids, are now looking to other states for the opportunities California once promised.

On electricity and affordability, Bianco told the crowd that the California Public Utilities Commission – not the utility companies – is responsible for rising rates, and that he would replace all CPUC commissioners “on day one” with people who would facilitate this cut in costs to consumers. 

“This is what I’m going to promise you: at a minimum, I will cut your rates in half as soon as you elect me,” said Bianco, asserting that “the good people I put on there will force the power companies to upgrade their infrastructure, bury lines, and we are going to move to a nuclear power supply.”

While Bianco’s goal to reduce costs for consumers is a welcome sentiment for the North Coast voters, achieving that reduction for rate payers is not as simple as Bianco makes it sound. California utility rates are determined by formal regulatory proceedings involving cost-of-service analyses, infrastructure investment recovery, wildfire liability, and legal challenges from utilities – proceedings that typically take 12 to 18 months even under favorable conditions, according to the California Public Utilities Commission. 

‘Every Regulation — Gone with a Stroke of a Pen’

If there was one theme that ran through everything Bianco said Thursday, it was that California’s regulatory apparatus is a problem to be fixed, and that the governor has the power to dismantle it alone – and that he will be the candidate to do exactly that on day one.

“Every single regulation in this state can be removed with a stroke of a pen,” he said. “The governor’s signature can remove every single regulation in this state.”

 Community members at Bianco’s meet n greet. [photo by Ryan Hutson]

Under California Government Code § 8571, the governor can suspend regulatory statutes – but only during a proclaimed state of emergency, and only temporarily. A California judge ruled during COVID that a governor cannot “unilaterally amend, alter, or change existing statutory law,” finding that authority belongs to the Legislature.

Newsom’s Palisades executive order was narrowly limited to fire-damaged properties within a declared emergency zone. Permanently eliminating CEQA, CARB, or the Coastal Commission statewide would require either a legislative vote or a ballot initiative, rather than a single executive action, as Bianco stated.

On Trump, Hilton, and ‘Bill’

The Trump endorsement of rival Steve Hilton was the elephant in the room Bianco addressed directly. He called it his president’s “worst bad decision.”

“Nobody is going to vote for a Fox News host in California,” Bianco told the crowd, referring to Steve Hilton, also running for the Governor’s seat. “Trump lost 60-40 in this state. And the only thing hated equally or worse than President Trump by California Democrats and some independents is Fox News. So how in the world would you think that a Fox News host supported by our president is going to win this election in November?”

 “I love him, I respect him, but he doesn’t make good decisions all the time,” Bianco said of Trump, and then noted that Humboldt’s own sheriff had offered his support early on. 

Bianco said, nodding toward Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal in the room, “I know Bill can vote for me,” in contrast to Trump, who Bianco noted could not vote in California.  Honsal was one of the earliest sheriffs in California to publicly back Bianco’s campaign. His endorsement is listed on the Bianco for Governor website.

Sanctuary State and a Case of Confused Citations

On immigration, Bianco told the crowd he is the only person in California currently suing the state to end its sanctuary law — and that one way or another, it ends when he takes office. “We know it’s unconstitutional,” he said. 

Referencing the lawsuit he has filed to try to reverse the state Sanctuary status, Bianco explained, “[T]he state knows they’re going to lose. So I’m either going to win this court case, or you’re going to elect me governor first and I’m just going to take it away anyway.”

Bianco repeatedly cited “AB 109” as the 2017 legislation establishing California’s sanctuary state status, however, the sanctuary state law is actually SB 54, called the California Values Act, signed in 2017. AB 109 is a separate 2011 criminal justice realignment bill that shifted lower-level offenders from state prisons to county jails. Bianco appeared to conflate the two at several points, attributing both the homelessness surge and sanctuary enforcement to “AB 109” although the two pieces of legislature have different applications.

Who Is Sheriff Chad Bianco?

Bianco has been Riverside County Sheriff since 2019, first elected in 2018 after working in the department for 25 years. He describes himself as a constitutional conservative and law-and-order candidate. His remarks Wednesday evening bear that out. 

In addition to his statements on policy at Wednesday’s event, Bianco has also spoken about aspects of his background in earlier interviews. Bianco has said he paid dues for a one-year membership in the Oath Keepers, which participated in the January 6th Insurrection in Washington D.C. In 2021, a data breach exposed the internal membership rolls of the Oath Keepers, an anti-government militia the FBI has described as an extremist organization. Bianco’s name was on the membership list, which he confirmed publicly, telling reporters he had paid $40 for a one-year membership in 2014 while serving as a police lieutenant — before his election as sheriff. 

“I found an email from 2014 where I joined for a year,” he told LAist. “I don’t even remember it,” Bianco claimed. He said he never attended any meetings and didn’t renew thereafter. He did not, however, denounce the organization’s mission, saying they “certainly don’t promote violence and government overthrow” and “stand for protecting the Constitution.” 

Bianco’s Sheriff’s Department is also currently under investigation by the California Department of Justice related to in-custody deaths that have occurred on his watch. 

Specifically, in 2022, 18 people died in Riverside County jails — the highest number in nearly two decades, more than double the county’s annual average of seven deaths per year between 2005 and 2021. Because of the numbers, Attorney General Rob Bonta opened a civil rights investigation into the department over conditions of confinement, excessive force, and other alleged misconduct. Multiple families filed federal lawsuits against Bianco and the county, alleging the department “deliberately failed to take even modest actions to prevent in-custody deaths.” Bianco said “every single one of these inmate deaths was out of anyone’s control” and called the AG investigation a political stunt. The investigation remains ongoing. 

Chad Bianco in Eureka. [Photo by Ryan Hutson]

The California Supreme Court stepped in Wednesday – the same day as Bianco’s Eureka appearance – ordering him to pause the investigation and preserve all seized materials while the court reviews the case. The warrants, previously kept secret, were unsealed this week after CalMatters and other news outlets successfully petitioned for their disclosure. Notably, elections experts called the ballot seizure unprecedented. “Elections are a sacred institution in this country,” said Cristine Soto DeBerry, a former prosecutor and head of the nonprofit Prosecutors Alliance Action. “We have not seen sheriffs seizing ballots in this country until 2026,” DeBerry states ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​in the CalMatters report. 

Bianco did not mention the Oath Keepers, the DOJ investigation into deaths or the ballot investigation at Wednesday’s event.

‘Hopefully No One’s Recording’

During his remarks Wednesday evening, Bianco also spoke about wildlife and predator reintroduction. He joked about releasing grizzly bears and wolves in San Francisco’s Presidio to address homelessness, drawing laughter from the crowd.

“I’m going to take two grizzly bears,” he told the crowd. “We’ll take a male and a female. Actually, we’ll even do better. Let’s say two females and one male — three grizzly bears and maybe eight wolves. And we’ll release them where they were prevalent, where they roamed — in the Presidio.”

He paused.

“That will help me with two things,” he said, adding, “hopefully, no one’s recording,” before suggesting, “[I]t will help with the homeless situation.”

The crowd laughed. Bianco clarified in jest, “No, we would never do that. That was ridiculous. And you know, I’m only kidding.”

He went on to make the argument that grizzly bears and wolves are apex predators that don’t belong near populated areas. Bianco asserted that the boards and commissions pushing for their reintroduction are staffed by urban activists and academics who have never lived with large predators as neighbors.

‘Stop Calling It Homeless’

On homelessness, Bianco made an extended argument that the word itself is the problem. “Never again are we ever going to call it homeless because this has nothing to do with homes,” he said. “They were forced out – more than likely because of drug and alcohol abuse and mental illness. And the only way we are going to fix it is to stop calling it ‘homes,’ because it was made ‘homeless’ to have a homeless industrial complex that billions of dollars get routed to NGOs and nonprofits to create homes for people that don’t want to live there.”

He described what he said is a state law prohibiting simultaneous treatment of mental illness and substance abuse, a policy he argued creates an impossible catch-22 for people who need both. And then he said, “We absolutely have to get to a place where we can force people into mental health treatment. If you ask someone that’s suffering a mental health crisis if they want to go into a facility, their answer is no. So it can never be voluntary.”

Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal, who was in the room and has publicly endorsed Bianco’s campaign, was visibly nodding in agreement as Bianco made his statement as to homelessness and associated treatment options.

Humboldt County Sheriff William “Billy” Honsal, was noted as having endorsed of Bianco’s campaign. [Photo by Ryan Hutson]

In March, Gov. Newsom specifically named Humboldt a “CARE Court Champion” at a statewide press conference. CARE Court is a civil – not criminal process – connecting people with severe psychotic disorders to voluntary treatment agreements under court oversight, with the option to order a CARE plan when voluntary compliance fails. 

California has already been expanding “involuntary commitment authority” in recent years. In October 2023, Gov. Newsom signed SB 43, the first major overhaul of the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act (LPS) in more than 50 years. The LPS Act from 1967 established the legal framework creating involuntary psychiatric holds in California – including the “5150” hold most people are familiar with. 

California’s SB 43 expanded the definition of “gravely disabled” and redefined the legal threshold required to place someone on an involuntary hold – including people with severe substance use disorders, not just mental health diagnoses. SB 43 took effect statewide on January 1, 2026. Bianco’s vision goes further, and would be a return to what he described as a “jail or rehab — you pick” enforcement model that he said existed before Proposition 47 decriminalized drug possession in 2014.

Jails, Dams, Drilling 

On public safety, Bianco says he wants to reopen all closed California state prisons and repeal Proposition 47 to restore felony classifications for drug and theft offenses. Four state prisons have been closed since 2021 according to our research. 

In addition to public safety, he addressed other policy issues. One stance that drew an emphatic round of applause was on locker room policy. He promised that under his administration there will “never again be another boy in your daughter’s locker room” – advocating for a ban on transgender girls in girls’ sports and facilities. 

He also pledged to end mandatory vaccination requirements for school enrollment and vowed to “force” the reintroduction of vocational trades across all school districts.

On water, he asserted that the State of California has never actually had a drought – claiming that a minimum of 70% of the state’s water is “purposely routed straight to the ocean” by government design to manufacture a shortage. He promised to build all voter-approved dams and reservoirs, saying he’d call the president the day after his inauguration to request Army Corps of Engineers support in building dams. Humboldt’s Native communities and the land and river stewardship that they are trusted with were not brought up, nor were the local salmon mentioned in Bianco’s assessment of California’s water use and infrastructure.  

On oil, he told the crowd that Kern County has “more oil than we could ever use in a hundred lifetimes” and that it’s being blocked purely by regulatory red tape which his signature could remove. 

On lithium and mining rare earth minerals in California, Bianco had more ideas. He described a deposit in the southern end of Riverside County and neighboring Imperial County as the largest lithium reserve in the world, stating these were bigger than China’s entire supply. According to the California Energy Commission, the Salton Sea region contains the fifth largest lithium deposit in the world- not the largest, but still significant. 

A U.S. Department of Energy study confirmed an estimated 18 million metric tons of lithium trapped in geothermal brine beneath the Salton Sea – a cache valued at roughly $540 billion and enough to supply material for 375 million electric vehicle batteries. Three companies are currently working to extract the metal, though none have begun doing so at commercial scale. The region is officially designated “Lithium Valley” by state and federal officials, and Gov. Newsom has called it the “Saudi Arabia of lithium.” 

On the Second Amendment, Bianco was unequivocal. “Not one gun law on the books protects any one of you,” he told the crowd. “Gun laws are meant for you to not have guns.” He said he issues approximately 10,000 concealed carry permits per year in Riverside County and supports a uniform statewide CCW reform, though he stopped short of endorsing full constitutional carry without a permitting process. 

Big Picture on California’s Big Race

The 2026 California governor’s race is wide open. With current Governor Gavin Newsom term-limited, the certified ballot includes eight Democrats and two Republicans in the top tier: Bianco and Hilton on the right; with Xavier Becerra, Katie Porter, Eric Swalwell, Antonio Villaraigosa, Tom Steyer, Betty Yee, Tony Thurmond, and Matt Mahan on the left. 

Under California’s top-two primary system, only the two highest vote-getters in June advance to November, which means if Bianco and Hilton effectively split the Republican vote, both could make the November ballot and shut out every Democrat. That scenario is what the California Democratic Party has been scrambling to prevent. 

Recent polling has Bianco and Hilton statistically tied in the mid-teens, with Democratic candidates Porter and Swalwell at approximately 13% each. Trump’s endorsement of Hilton came just days before the Eureka event, a development Bianco described as “a little shocking, a little bit disappointing.”

Two protesters were posted at the entryway to the event, holding signs that read “CHAD the CHUD” and “FUCK Bianco”. [Photo by Ryan Hutson]

Bianco closed by telling the crowd that Republicans keep losing in California because 40 to 60 percent of voters don’t show up – and that his job between now and June is to convince everyone in the room to convince everyone they know to vote. “We are going to prove that California is not blue,” he said. “45% of the state is Democrat. That means 55% are not. We should be winning every single election.”