Chad Bianco, election denier sheriff who seized ballots, set to lose California governor bid

Chad Bianco, the Riverside County sheriff who seized hundreds of thousands of ballots cast in California’s recent redistricting referendum, looks all but certain not to advance to the general election in the state’s race for governor. 

Although only 56% of the votes in California’s gubernatorial primary election were reported as of Thursday morning, Bianco is in a distant fourth place, with 580,389 votes — a little over half as many votes as the current third-place candidate, Democrat Tom Steyer. Only the top two finishers advance to the general election under California’s jungle primary system. 

Currently, Republican Steve Hilton and Democrat Xavier Becerra appear likely to advance.

“I know that we did everything that we could,” Bianco reportedly said to supporters at a campaign party Tuesday evening. “In the end, no matter what, if it’s not in the cards for me to be your next governor, I’m still going to be the sheriff of the fourth largest county in the entire country, and I’m going to be fighting every single day to make sure Californians’ lives are better.”

Bianco rose to national prominence earlier this year when it was revealed his office seized more than 650,000 ballots in the Golden State’s November redistricting special election. Search warrants said he acted on claims from a local anti-voting activist group inspired by a national group known for spurring false claims of voter fraud.

Several other gubernatorial candidates accused Bianco of breaking the law by seizing the ballots. 

“In order to remove ballots, you have to follow a process,” Democratic candidate Xavier Becerra, who is currently in second place in Tuesday’s election, said at a debate early last month. “Sheriff Bianco didn’t follow it. If you’re not going to enforce the law as governor, then why would you want to sit in the office?”

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) last week signed into law a measure, spurred by Bianco, that bars law enforcement from seizing ballots, voter rolls, or other election materials.

Unlawfully seizing ballots was just the tip of the iceberg of Bianco’s far-right extremism that plagued his campaign from the beginning. Democracy Docket exclusively reported on Bianco’s problematic past social media comments that promoted false claims about elections and conspiracy theories involving noncitizen voters. 

Democrats have “created an environment where cheating and illegal voting is keeping them in office,” Bianco wrote in a recent LinkedIn comment.

Bianco has also been linked to the far-right extremist group the Oath Keepers, which played a key role in the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. Bianco, who used to be a member of the Oath Keepers, defended the group during a gubernatorial debate. 

“Everybody that wants to, again, lie and get emotionally all spun up about the Oath Keeper organization,” Bianco said. “Before you do that, and I know none of you have, I want you to go read the mission statement, the Oath Keeper mission statement.”