Maga Sheriff Running For Ca Governor Vows To End ‘sanctuary’ Laws

RIVERSIDE, California — A pro-Trump sheriff from Southern California said he would overturn a state law protecting undocumented immigrants from deportation if he wins a long shot bid for governor of the deep blue state.

“The best thing would be to completely abolish SB 54 and repeal it because it does absolutely nothing for public safety,” Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco told POLITICO Monday at his gubernatorial campaign kickoff using the bill name for the state’s so-called sanctuary law.

“It does absolutely nothing for immigrant communities. The only thing SB 54 was designed for was to keep criminals from being deported,” said Bianco, who wore Wrangler jeans, cowboy boots and a gun on his hip to the announcement at a historic event space in Riverside, an inland city south of Los Angeles that Trump wonby just over one point in 2024.

The sheriff in recent weeks has echoed Trump officials’ condemnation of SB 54, a 2018 state law that restricts local police and sheriffs' departments from assisting in federal immigration enforcement.

“California sanctuary city/state laws are placing every single immigrant at risk, regardless of whether or not they are law-abiding, because the state law does not allow ICE-ready access to our jails,” said Bianco in a statement to POLITICO last month.

Bianco, a hardline sheriff who received a shoutout from President Donald Trumpat a rally for the reelection of Rep. Ken Calvert, could emerge as the strongest Republican in the race given expected support from local law enforcement as he throws himself into the 2026 governor’s race. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom is prohibited from running again due to term limits.

Steve Hilton, another Republican and former Fox News host, is also considering a gubernatorial bid in the state’s jungle primary where the top-two candidates regardless of party move forward to a November face off.

Bianco joins a crowded field of Democratic heavyweights including former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis. Vice President Kamala Harris or former Rep. Katie Porter could also jump into the race.

Hundreds of people gathered in Riverside on Monday to hear Bianco launch his public safety and affordability-focused campaign.

“I came to California in 1989 in search of the California Dream. I got a job, I bought a house, I married a beauty queen, and I raised a family,” said Bianco against a wall lined with his Republican peers.

“Unfortunately for my kids, destructive policies, legal agendas, government overreach and regulation, radical activism and special interests have turned the California dream into a nightmare for millions of Californians. Today, we fire up the machine that will restore the promise to all Californians that the dream is still alive,” he said.

State and federal elected officials came to show their support, including Republican state Assemblymember Tom Lackey, who shares a similar background in law enforcement as Bianco.

“His life experiences align with the public safety goals that I think most people support. He’s not as extreme as people are trying to characterize him as,” said Lackey.

Another lawmaker said Bianco would align the Democrat-led state with policies backed by the White House.

“He shared with me his commitment to reducing the size of government so we can streamline regulations and make the cost of doing business in this state less burdensome,” said Assemblymember Greg Wallis.

Any GOP candidate for statewide office in California faces long odds of making it to the governor’s mansion. But Bianco could capitalize on the momentum from his championing of Proposition 36, a tough-on-crime ballot measure that increased penalties for certain drug and theft crimes that voters passed easily in November, a sign of the rightward swing on crime.

Bianco said that the experience campaigning for the measure taught him the power of relatability.

“That’s the appeal. There isn’t going to be another Republican that gets into this race that has that,” he said.

In December, POLITICO obtained a poll that showed Bianco with 14 percent of the vote in a 10-person field of declared and likely candidates. In the state’s jungle primary system, Bianco could make headway by consolidating the conservative vote. Calvert believes the sheriff is the right person for the job.

“I’ve seen what bad governance does. California has seen that in Sacramento. So, he can turn this around.”