(Kent Nishimura / Getty Images)
Top job: Riverside County sheriff
Biggest splash: In an Instagram post, he endorsed Donald Trump for president, playfully saying it’s time we put “a felon in the White House.”
Particulars: Bianco, 58, lives in Riverside with his wife, Denise, and has four adult children. He was born at Hill Air Force Base in Ogden, Utah, and grew up in a small mining town. He’s a Republican.
Campaign launch: February 2025
Bianco was elected sheriff in 2018 after a long career at the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office and reelected in 2022. Bianco is a law-and-order conservative and strong supporter of President Trump.
As sheriff, Bianco has been a harsh critic of Newsom, Bonta and the California Legislature, especially their public safety policies. During the 2024 election, Bianco supported Proposition 36, the ballot measure approved by voters to reverse course on progressive criminal justice reform, cracking down on theft crimes and the use of the deadly drug fentanyl.
Bianco faced scrutiny after a data leak revealed that in 2014 he was a member of the Oath Keepers, a far-right, antigovernment group whose members took part in the pro-Trump insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Bianco later said he had discontinued his membership because, like many other law enforcement officers, he felt the organization “did not offer me anything.” But during a nationally televised debate in early May, Bianco said he was “very proud” of his past membership in the group.
In 2024, Bianco joined a coalition of sheriffs across the country who endorsed the tough stance on border security taken by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, including transporting immigrants to “sanctuary” cities across the country.
At a candidate forum in January, Bianco said politicians who support “sanctuary state” policies should be voted out of office. “I wish it was the 1960s, ‘70s, and ‘80s — we’d take them behind the shed and beat the s— out of them,” he said.
Last year, though, Bianco announced that Riverside County deputies will not perform “any type of immigration enforcement,” saying that fear among local immigrant communities has increased because of raids ordered by the Trump administration.
Bianco made national news in March when he ordered the seizure of more than 650,000 ballots from last November’s election as part of an investigation that he called a “fact-finding mission” to determine if they were fraudulently counted. He later suspended the investigation as legal challenges mounted. Trump, whom Bianco supports, remains fixated on his 2020 election loss and has falsely claimed widespread fraud.
Trump endorsed Bianco’s Republican rival in the governor’s race, conservative commentator Steve Hilton.
