‘We’re Both Sheriffs’: SF’s Miyamoto Endorses MAGA Republican for CA Governor

Paul Miyamoto, San Francisco’s Democratic sheriff, is defending his endorsement of Chad Bianco, a Trump-supporting Republican sheriff in Riverside County running to be California’s next governor.

Miyamoto’s name appears on Bianco’s campaign website for endorsements — first reported by Mission Local — along with the names of three dozen other California sheriffs. (The only other Bay Area sheriff on that list is Solano County Sheriff Tom Ferrara.)

In an interview with KQED on Friday, Miyamoto said he and other sheriffs signed a letter of support for Bianco, but his endorsement has limits: as a professional courtesy to a fellow law enforcement officer and member of the California State Sheriffs Association, the nonprofit professional organization representing all of California’s 58 elected sheriffs.

“I don’t support him in terms of political affiliation or political party,” Miyamoto said. “This is coming from the fact that we’re both sheriffs working together in a sheriffs’ association.”

Miyamoto’s endorsement raised eyebrows considering Bianco’s staunch support of President Trump, saying in a video posted to social media last year, “I think it’s time we put a felon in the White House” as Trump sought a second term.

Bianco was also previously a paying member of the Oath Keepers, one of the groups responsible for the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, among several other scandals.

Bianco was elected Riverside’s sheriff in 2018. By then, the department had already been under a federal consent decree for two years due to conditions in the county jails. That decree remains active to this day.

In 2022, at least 19 people died while held in Riverside County detention facilities. In response, Bianco used social media to shift blame from his department, even blaming the deceased and their families.

The following year, California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced his office was opening a civil rights investigation into the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office to determine if it had “engaged in a pattern or practice of unconstitutional policing amid deeply concerning allegations relating to conditions of confinement in its jail facilities, excessive force, and other misconduct.”

In a video posted to social media, Bianco — wearing his sheriff’s uniform — has called Bonta “an embarrassment to law enforcement.”

A board vote on Wednesday to establish whether Riverside County needed an oversight committee and inspector general to oversee the sheriff’s office failed. Bianco called the move “anti-law enforcement,” according to NPR affiliate KVCR.

Miyamoto said he considers Bianco a friend whom he connected with through the quarterly meetings of the state sheriff’s association, and sees benefits in his relationship with Bianco, even if they don’t see eye-to-eye politically. In a group photo on the CSSA website, Miyamoto is standing behind Bianco.

“One thing about law enforcement and public safety is that all sheriffs are consistent in wanting to keep their community safe,” Miyamoto said, “We all have different constituencies, but we have the underlying foundation of all working towards keeping people safe, and that’s something I know that Chad Bianco is earnest about.”

Miyamoto said he stands by his endorsement of Bianco from a law enforcement perspective, but he won’t be supporting his candidacy any further, including campaigning or donating to his campaign.

“I’m a true-blue Democrat,” Miyamoto said, emphasizing he is not supportive of President Trump, “and what he [Trump] represents.”

This week, Kamala Harris, the former vice president, San Francisco district attorney, and California attorney general, said she wouldn’t be running for governor, which Bianco called “the first right decision in a career full of wrong ones.” The state needs “real leadership – grounded in public safety, common sense, and accountability – not more empty promises from the political elite,” Bianco continued in a social media post. “I’m running to fix what they broke.”

While local political columnists have highlighted Bianco’s slim chances of being elected in left-leaning California, Miyamoto said relating to a “Governor Bianco” would be just as similar as his interactions with Sheriff Bianco.

“Even if we have polarizing or differences of opinion or approaches to things, being able to present different perspectives at a table is where we really work on meaningful change, and not one-sided or politically based change,” he said. “So I’m absolutely looking forward to doing something like that. We do it already at the sheriff’s association.”