First Major Republican Candidate for California Governor Touts Pro-Gun Stance

California isn’t a pro-gun state. It’s probably the most progressive state in the country.

Gov Gavin Newsom is something of the personification of both of those facts. The same has been true for numerous previous governors. They don’t like guns and they’ll do everything to curtail the ownership of them.

Now, though, we’re looking at a new election for California’s governor. No doubt, there will be plenty of Democrats running, and I suspect that we’ll also see some Republicans who hope you don’t put them on the spot because they don’t plan to do anything about the state’s draconian gun control laws.

But the first major Republican to announce seems to not fall into either of those camps.

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco announced his bid for governor earlier this week.

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco became the first well-known Republican to announce a bid for California governor to replace term-limited Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2026. 

Bianco is an ardent supporter of President Donald Trump and has criticized Newsom and other Democrats leading California. 

The sheriff of California’s fourth most populous county since 2018, Bianco earned praise from conservatives for refusing to enforce the state’s pandemic stay-at-home orders and, later, a vaccine mandate for law enforcement officers. 

In 2021, he also came under scrutiny for his previous involvement with the Oath Keepers, a right-wing anti-government group. 

During his campaign launch in Riverside Monday, Bianco again lambasted the state’s elected leaders as “completely out of touch” and said their “failed policies” have only led to higher costs.

But is he pro-gun?

Well, nothing in that particular report says anything one way or another on that, though he has gotten the enthusiastic support of President Donald Trump. so there’s that.

But that’s not the same as being pro-gun.

However, Gun Owners Radio tagged me on X with this video where we get some answers:

Of course, talk is cheap, but Bianco says the right things. I especially appreciated his pointing out that law enforcement often finds people’s rights interfering with their jobs, but that’s kind of the point. This is something we need to remember when law-enforcement groups are cited as opposing some pro-gun measure. I get that they have concerns about their jobs, but our rights are specifically meant to restrict them, not us.

Bianco has an uphill battle, to say the least, especially with California’s jungle primary where both parties have all their candidates in a single primary and the top two, regardless of party, campaign for governor.

Republicans have a tough row to hoe regardless, though. The state is a Democrat stronghold, one that no presidential candidate has any belief of voting anything but blue.

Yet things might be a tad different right now.

First, we have the fact that Trump gained about four points in 2024 in California over his 2020 effort. It’s still below 40 percent, but it’s still a gain.

Then we had the wildfires that gutted Pacific Palisades and other parts of Southern California. The horrendous government response may well turn some voters away from the party of Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.

It’s still going to be uphill for Bianco or any other Republican, but the possibility still exists that the state might get an actual pro-gun Republican in the governor’s mansion.

If that happens, then we know we’re on the weirdest timeline ever, but I’d be down with it.