FACE TO FACE WITH SHERIFF CHAD BIANCO

On the eve of the California primary, a Q&A with Riverside Sheriff Chad Bianco

Jessica Reed Kraus

Jun 02, 2026

Last Weekend,

After a road trip north to San Luis Obispo to spend an afternoon with Steve Hilton, I headed back toward more familiar territory: Riverside County, where I grew up, to sit with Sheriff Chad Bianco.

I found the Biancos on their 26th wedding anniversary. A bucket of champagne atop an office conference table before a string of podcast appearances would come to claim the rest of the day. His wife, Denise, chimed in to recount her first impression of him—what drew her to him then and what she still loves most about him today.

Like many Californians, I first became aware of Bianco during COVID when I was desperate for sensible voices in authority. While much of the state fell into lock step pushing mandates, irrational restrictions and closures, Bianco emerged as one of the few officials that publicly rejected this approach.

Bianco is backed fiercely now by a loyal following that extends Riverside County lines. Hilton may be polling exceptionally high by traditional polling, but Bianco routinely pulls close to 70 percent support among my audience, which is always an interesting contrast to consider, reminiscent of RFK Jr. when he first emerged as a subject.

A thirty-two-year veteran of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, Bianco was first elected Sheriff in 2018 and reelected in 2022. Today, he oversees one of the largest law enforcement operations in California, managing thousands of employees, multiple jail facilities, court security, patrol stations, contract cities, the Coroner’s Bureau, and a budget exceeding one billion dollars.

Face to face, he comes across as the real deal—passionate, but practical.

He does not present as a polished politician but a man invested in fixing California, which he views as an easy and realistic feat.

Running one of California’s largest sheriff’s departments has given him something many of his competitors cannot claim: a record executing order and priorities, effectively translating ideas into action.

We met at his office in Riverside. Our conversation covered his path into law enforcement, the lessons he’s learned over three decades on the job, California’s political future, public safety, family, faith, and why he believes so many residents feel disconnected from the leaders making decisions on their behalf.

He does not believe California is broken. His plan centers largely on deregulating factions of the state so small businesses can thrive again.

This interview have been condensed for clarity — audio clips are included

JRK: HOW DID YOU AND YOUR WIFE MEET?

SHERIFF BIANCO: It’s our 26th anniversary. We met online. Before anyone was online. I didn’t even know how it worked.

We were both divorced, and I had two kids. My nine-year-old was just a genius. I took him to Best Buy because he wanted a computer. I knew nothing about computers. I was a cop. I wrote my reports by hand. I had a word processor—that’s all I knew. So I bought him whatever he wanted, and he set it all up. He had to show me how to turn it on.

At the time, I was working narcotics, and I’d get home between two and five in the morning. I couldn’t just fall asleep. The only thing the computer was good for was playing CDs. I’d come home and play music—Sheryl Crow was my favorite.

One night, an ad popped up that said, “Meet girls in your area.” So I clicked on it. I was scrolling through profiles and came across her picture. I read her profile and then went to bed.

The next day, all I could think about was her picture.

I went back online trying to find it again and couldn’t. For days I sat there waiting for that ad to come back.

Finally, it did. I spent hours finding her profile again and sent her a long email.

Several days later she responded.

DENISE BIANCO: Two of my best friends had put their ads up, and they convinced me to do it too. This was 1999. I probably got 150 emails in five days. I was 28 years old, and my dad heard I was on the internet and made me take the profile down. So by the time Chad emailed me, I was already off the site.

What stood out about him was that he talked about his kids first. His email was basically: “I have a five-year-old and a nine-year-old.” I thought, okay, I’m going to meet this guy.

Their Extended Meet

-2:07

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Q. HOW MANY CHILDREN DO YOU HAVE?

BIANCO: I had two, she had two. We’ve got four together. Most people don’t even know that. They think they’re all ours. Everybody gets along.

Her youngest daughter is my daughter. She’s my baby. Anybody who calls her my stepdaughter is going to hear from me. There’s no such thing.

Q. WHAT WAS YOUR HOUSEHOLD LIKE GROWING UP?

BIANCO: I had an amazing household. My mom was 16 when she had me, my dad was 18. My dad was in the Air Force, he served in Vietnam. My parents had three kids before my mom was 21. There is nothing bad about my childhood. Nothing. My grandparents were amazing, both sets.

I grew up in a tiny town of about 1,000 people. Everybody knew everybody. I always say I had about 200 dads. The whole town raised us.

I remember getting lost as a little kid and somebody just bringing me home because they knew exactly where I belonged.

It was a different world. We were protected. We were surrounded by people who cared about us.

Q. WERE YOU ATHLETIC?

BIANCO: Very. I wrestled, I played golf, I played baseball. Baseball was my best sport. That’s what got me out of town. I earned a baseball scholarship and went to the University of Utah.

That eventually brought me to California.

Q. WAS THERE A MOMENT THAT CHANGED THE DIRECTION OF YOUR LIFE?

BIANCO: Yes. I was 16 years old. I got pulled over with some friends. We had alcohol in the car. We all got tickets. The officer pulled each of us out one at a time. I was last. He knew who I was. He knew my parents. He knew I played baseball. While he was writing the ticket, he gave me a lecture. He told me: “You are headed in the wrong direction.”

He said baseball could get me out of that town. He told me I had a choice. I could choose my future, or I could keep hanging around the people I was with and end up exactly where they were headed.

I got back in the car completely embarrassed. My friends were talking about the ticket. All I could think about was what he said. My dad had said similar things, but hearing it from another adult changed everything. That was a turning point.

Q. SO HOW DID YOU ACTUALLY END UP IN LAW ENFORCEMENT?

BIANCO: Completely by accident. When I got to California, I needed a job. I worked construction, then I worked at a Ford dealership.

One of the mechanics there was putting himself through the Sheriff’s Academy on weekends. Every morning we’d go to the gym together. He kept telling me how much I’d love it. Eventually he convinced me to look into it.

At first, honestly, it wasn’t about law enforcement; it was about the paycheck and the benefits. It paid more than what I was making, it had benefits I didn’t have. It seemed like a good opportunity. So I did it.

And once I got there, I realized this is exactly what I was meant to do.

Q. WHAT KEPT YOU IN THE PROFESSION?

BIANCO: Helping people. Being a cop itself never impressed me. The badge never impressed me. What impressed me was being able to help people every day. That’s what kept me going. That’s what I loved about it.

And that’s what I still love about it today.

Q. I THINK A LOT OF PEOPLE FIRST BECAME AWARE OF YOU DURING COVID. WHAT DO YOU THINK CHANGED IN CALIFORNIA DURING THAT PERIOD?

BIANCO: I think it started waking people up, including me. I was focused on my family, my wife, my kids, and my job. I had a very small bubble. We had our group of friends, our kids’ friends’ parents, and that’s who we spent time with.

I voted, but I never really cared about politics. I wasn’t paying attention.

That started changing around 2010 when I moved into administration in law enforcement.

Then in 2012 everything really started going sideways for law enforcement.

AB 109 with prison realignment was a disaster for us.

From that point forward, every year there were more and more bills that were anti-law enforcement. We could see it happening, but nobody else really could. The public didn’t know. And honestly, we weren’t helping because law enforcement never talked. We always said, “No comment.”

That ended up hurting us because we weren’t explaining what was happening. People started blaming us for things that Sacramento had actually caused.

They blamed us when people got released from jail. They blamed us when criminals weren’t prosecuted. They blamed us when crime increased.

But the laws had changed. Our ability to keep communities safe had changed. And nobody understood why.

Q. WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER ABOUT THE VERY BEGINNING OF COVID?

BIANCO: The first acknowledged COVID flight from Wuhan, China landed at March Air Force Base in Riverside County. We knew it was coming. We were getting briefings. We were being shown videos from China. People dead in the streets. People collapsed in pools of blood.

The information we were getting was terrifying.

They were telling us that 40 percent of people were going to die. I had 4,500 employees. I’m doing the math in my head thinking a thousand of them are going to die.

Then I started thinking about my family. There’s six of us. Which two are going to die? I honestly had a panic attack. It was scary.

Extended thoughts on COVID

-1:06

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Q. WERE YOU INITIALLY SUPPORTIVE OF THE TWO-WEEK SHUTDOWN?

BIANCO: Yes, absolutely. At the beginning I supported it. I thought, okay, two weeks. Let’s slow the spread, let’s be responsible, let’s take a vacation. I even recorded a video telling Riverside County to stay home for two weeks. I said we’d get through it together. That seemed reasonable. But then two weeks became three weeks. Then four weeks. Then mandatory closures. Then enforcement. Then arresting people. And that’s when I said absolutely not.

Q. WHAT WAS THE MOMENT YOU DECIDED YOU WOULD NOT ENFORCE THE LOCKDOWNS?

BIANCO: I knew the county board meeting was coming. I knew they were preparing to go along with the governor’s orders. I told my wife I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t have my deputies enforcing that. She told me not to do it. She said it would be political suicide. She was worried about what would happen. But I felt like I had to speak up. I believed people were being misled. I believed the information wasn’t matching reality. And I wasn’t going to make criminals out of ordinary people.

Q. WHAT HAPPENED WHEN YOU SPOKE OUT PUBLICLY?

BIANCO: Immediately afterward, I started getting calls, emails, messages. Doctors reached out. Heart surgeons. Respiratory therapists. Medical professionals. They were telling me: “You’re right.” “Keep going.” “Thank you for saying what we can’t say.” People were scared to speak publicly. Once I heard from doctors and medical professionals, I felt at peace. I knew I was doing the right thing.

Q. YOU’VE SAID COVID PUT YOU IN THE PUBLIC EYE. THEN GEORGE FLOYD HAPPENED. WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER ABOUT THAT PERIOD?

BIANCO: I was a brand-new sheriff. At the same time that COVID was happening, we had George Floyd and the riots that spread across the country and eventually came to Riverside.

That was another moment that changed everything. COVID made me a voice for people who felt they weren’t being heard. The riots made me a leader in the law enforcement world.

Q. WHAT WAS DIFFERENT ABOUT THE WAY YOU HANDLED THE RIOTS?

BIANCO: We were the first law enforcement agency in the country to use overwhelming force and stop it immediately.

We cleared our city within an hour. We arrested the people who needed to be arrested. We forced the rest out, and they never came back.

I was very clear from the beginning: I support your First Amendment rights. I will defend your First Amendment rights.

But the moment your rights start violating someone else’s rights, it stops being a First Amendment issue.

At that point it’s criminal behavior, and I wasn’t going to allow it.

Q. WHAT MADE YOU TAKE THAT APPROACH?

BIANCO: A few nights earlier, my wife and I were watching television coverage from Los Angeles. We watched people coming out of broken store windows carrying merchandise. The camera panned down and there were police officers standing there watching it happen. I turned to my wife and said: “If that ever happens here, that will not be us.”

My deputies will not stand there and watch people destroy our communities. That was the moment. I knew exactly what I was going to do if it came to Riverside.

Q. WHAT DO YOU THINK THE BIGGEST LESSON WAS FROM THAT PERIOD?

BIANCO: Leadership. People want leaders, they don’t want excuses. They don’t want politicians explaining why they can’t do something. They want somebody willing to make decisions.

Good leaders make decisions. Sometimes they’re difficult decisions. Sometimes people criticize them, but you still have to make them. That’s what leadership is.

COVID and the riots both reinforced the same lesson. People need honesty; they need leaders who will tell them the truth. Even if it’s unpopular, even if it’s difficult.

What frustrated me during those years was watching people refuse to tell the truth because they were afraid of criticism. That’s not leadership. Leadership is standing up and saying what you believe is right, even when it’s uncomfortable.

Q. SO WHY ARE YOU RUNNING?

BIANCO: Because I think California can be fixed. I don’t think it’s hopeless. I don’t think it’s beyond saving. And if I thought it couldn’t be fixed, I wouldn’t run. I wouldn’t put my family through this. I wouldn’t put myself through this. I wouldn’t waste anyone’s time. But I believe it can be fixed. And I believe I can help do it.

Q. SIX YEARS AFTER COVID, WHAT DOES CALIFORNIA NEED MOST?

BIANCO: It’s actually relatively easy. It’s about turning government back over to the people. That’s really what this comes down to. People think California is broken. I don’t. California isn’t broken. Our teachers aren’t broken. Our business owners aren’t broken. Our police officers aren’t broken. Our beaches aren’t broken. Our mountains aren’t broken. Our weather isn’t broken.

The only thing broken is Sacramento.

Forty million people are being controlled by about 130 people in Sacramento.

The real problem isn’t California.

The real problem is who we’re sending there.

Q. WHAT WOULD YOU DO IN YOUR FIRST SIX MONTHS AS GOVERNOR?

BIANCO: The first six months would be transformative. I truly believe that. People would immediately see improvements. Gas prices, electricity costs, housing, business regulations, permitting. All of those things are regulatory. They can be changed. And once they’re changed, Californians are going to realize those improvements could have happened years ago.

That’s what will frustrate people. They’re going to realize how much of this was self-inflicted.

Q. LET’S TALK ABOUT HOUSING. WHY IS IT SO EXPENSIVE?

BIANCO: Because government won’t let people build. In California, it can take three to five years to build a house. In many other states it takes three to five months. Before you even begin, you’re writing checks. Environmental reviews. Permits. Impact fees. Consultants. Lawyers. All of those costs get added to the final price. A huge percentage of the cost of a new home is just recovering fees and regulatory costs. Remove those costs and housing becomes dramatically more affordable.

Q. WHAT ABOUT BUSINESSES LEAVING CALIFORNIA?

BIANCO: Nobody leaves California because they hate California. Nobody. They leave because they can’t afford it. They leave because of taxes. They leave because of regulations. They leave because they can’t operate here anymore. Every business owner I talk to says the same thing: California is a wonderful place to live. The government is what drives them away.

Q. WHAT DO YOU THINK PEOPLE ARE STARVING FOR IN POLITICS?

BIANCO: Honesty. Integrity. Leadership. People are tired of politicians. They’re tired of scripted answers. They’re tired of being told one thing while seeing another. People want somebody who will tell them the truth, even when it’s unpopular.

Q. WHY DO YOU THINK YOU CAN WIN?

BIANCO: Because I think I appeal beyond party labels. I have Democrats telling me they’re going to vote for me. Not because they agree with everything I say, but because they want change. They want honesty. They want somebody who will run government competently. We’ve seen that happen before. A sheriff won statewide office in Nevada using a very similar message: Public safety, accountability, leadership.

That’s the path.

Q. WHAT’S YOUR ARGUMENT AGAINST STEVE HILTON?

BIANCO: Nothing personal. I think he loves California. I think he wants what’s best for California. But I don’t think he can win. He’s tied too closely to Fox News. He’s tied too closely to Donald Trump. And I think those things make winning a general election in California extremely difficult.

My argument has always been simple: The goal isn’t getting through the primary. The goal is winning in November.

Q. WHY ARE YOU ULTIMATELY DOING THIS?

BIANCO: Because I love California. I don’t want to leave. I don’t want my children to leave. I don’t want future generations to lose the opportunities that brought me here. I believe government should work for people.

I believe California can be fixed, and I believe somebody has to step up and do it.

That’s why I’m running.