Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, who is running for governor of California ahead of the 2026 election, accused Democratic lawmakers of endangering law enforcement officers and the public through policies that undermine police and protect criminals.
“It’s extremely dangerous,” Bianco said Sunday on Newsmax’s Sunday Report, responding to Democrats’ efforts to unmask ICE agents involved in recent arrests, Newsmax reported.
He argued that Democrats who previously defended the anonymity of suspects now want law enforcement officers exposed.
“It’s interesting that they didn’t want criminals unmasked a couple of months ago, but now they want law enforcement unmasked,” Bianco said. “The problem that they’re having is they can’t identify them to terrorize them at their homes and their kids at school and everything else, and that’s what the Democrat Party wants.”
Bianco said protecting officer identities is vital for safety.
“It is a safety factor for these law enforcement officers, whether it’s local or whether it’s federal, to make sure that they cannot be identified, especially during these protest enforcements and things like that,” he said.
He also cited a deadly truck crash involving a 21-year-old illegal immigrant from India as another example of what he called California’s failed policies.
“This is just another example of the love affair that Democrats have with criminals, particularly in this state,” Bianco said.
He blamed California’s sanctuary laws for limiting police authority.
“They have made us a sanctuary state where we cannot even try and identify anyone that’s here illegally,” he said. “And then they give them driver’s licenses willingly. You can’t ask for proof of citizenship. You just fill out the application, you lie on it, and then you get your driver’s license.”
Bianco said such policies will continue “until good people, until good Americans stand up and say, enough is enough.”
He also weighed in on President Donald Trump’s plan to deploy the National Guard to San Francisco, saying Gov. Gavin Newsom has failed to protect Californians.
“The number one role of government is to protect its citizens,” Bianco said. “And Gavin Newsom has proven for decades that he has no interest in protecting California.”
He said if Newsom were doing his job, “California would not be the prime example of what not to do for the world.”
Bianco described worsening conditions in San Francisco, where “businesses are all leaving” and “residents are all leaving.”
“When you park your car on the street and you roll down your windows so people won’t break your windows to get into your car, you know there is something seriously wrong, and the governor knows it,” he said.
Bianco said Newsom’s policies began during his time as mayor of San Francisco and have now spread statewide.
“He started this back when he was mayor of San Francisco, and he’s continued it to the entire state, enabling criminal behavior,” he said.
Bianco said residents in San Francisco and Oakland “are begging for help from any law enforcement, including the federal government.”
“We just see over and over this complete fraud of a governor, Gavin Newsom, trying to appease to his base,” he said. “And we’re the victims.”
Meanwhile, Republican candidate Steve Hilton has narrowly taken the lead in the latest Emerson College poll for California’s gubernatorial race, edging out Democratic frontrunner Katie Porter, Newsweek reported.
Hilton has 16 percent support among likely voters, compared to 15 percent for Porter, according to the October 20–21 survey of 900 voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 points.
Bianco placed third at 11 percent, followed by former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, both at 5 percent.
Hilton said in a statement that “everyone can see we need change, and some political balance in California.”
Porter’s campaign said she remains “the experienced, battle-tested fighter that Californians want as their next governor.”
