Chad Bianco Wants Changes in Sacramento in Run for Governor

Here are the morning’s top stories on Wednesday, May 13, 2026

• In the crowded field of mostly Democratic candidates vying to be California’s next governor, one MAGA Republican has had surprising staying power. That’s Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco. He’s recently been in national headlines for seizing hundreds of thousands of ballots, among other controversies. Bianco has built his profile on bashing the state’s Democrats and Governor Gavin Newsom. 
• The World Cup is officially one month away. And some LA advocates aren’t happy about how organizers plan to address human rights. 

Riverside County Sheriff stays consistent in attack on Democrats as race for governor winds down

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco has consistently polled in the top 4-5 candidates since he entered the race for California governor. In the final month before the June primary, he continues his attacks on Democrats in Sacramento and Governor Gavin Newsom.

“I want government out of the way of growth in California so we can once again finally prosper. It’s going to be like California will be more prosperous than at any time in its history, and I will liken it to the Gold Rush years,” he said.

Bianco blames Democrats for ruining the state he said he fell in love with as a kid visiting from Utah. “Our businesses are leaving. Our workers are leaving. Our kids can’t afford to live here. There’s nothing good coming from the current Democrat Party,” Bianco said.

Bianco’s campaign has not been without controversy. He’s an ardent supporter of President Trump and recently seized hundreds of thousands of ballots from the Riverside County Registrar of Voters, based on a tip from a citizens group that alleged election fraud. Election officials have said the claims are baseless, but Bianco said he has to investigate crime.

Bianco said one of his top priorities as governor would be to kill the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA. He’d also get rid of the Coastal Commission and the California Air Resources Board.  Those are some of the state’s bedrock environmental protections.
“Those are the issues that cause our cost of living to go up,” Bianco said.

A month out from World Cup, LA advocates say human rights are an afterthought

The Los Angeles World Cup host committee has quietly posted its guidance on human rights after months of speculation over where the plan was and when it would be published.

Advocates had pushed the committee, an arm of the Los Angeles Sports & Entertainment Commission, to produce its plan. But now that it’s out, they’re not satisfied with what they’re seeing.

The human rights guidance is required by FIFA and outlined on the host committee’s website. It includes a list of online resources including where to file complaints with various local and state level agencies and a summary of local, state and federal laws protecting human and civil rights. The committee is also touting a partnership with L.A. County in which people can call 211 to report a concern during the tournament. “Los Angeles is weeks away from hosting one of the largest sporting events in the world, and yet what has been posted is not a plan,” Stephanie Richard, director of the Sunita Jain Anti‑Trafficking Initiative at Loyola Law School, said in a statement. “It is a list of laws and hotline numbers.”

The human rights document also skirts fears around ICE and its potential presence at the tournament and surrounding celebrations. Todd Lyons, the agency’s head, said earlier this year that ICE’s investigatory branch will play a key role in security for the tournament. But ICE and immigration enforcement aren’t mentioned on the host committee’s web page on human rights or in its outline of its approach to human rights. “Immigration status” only gets a mention in the list of existing anti-discrimination laws. “It certainly could have been much stronger,” Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights in Los Angeles, said of the plan. She added that her organization participated in a roundtable on the plan, and she was disappointed ICE and recent immigration sweeps weren’t mentioned in the resulting document.

LAist reached out to spokespeople for the host committee for comment via email, phone and text, but did not hear back in time for publication. FIFA’s press team also did not respond to an email from LAist. According to the host committee’s website, the human rights plan is the result of coordination with the city and county of Los Angeles, the city of Inglewood, and 14 roundtable discussions held in the fall of 2025.