SF Sheriff Paul Miyamoto endorses MAGA GOP candidate for governor

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — The sheriff of one of the most liberal cities in California appears to have thrown his support behind a Trump-supporting Republican who is a former member of a right-wing extremist militia in the governor’s race. According to the campaign website for Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, San Francisco County Sheriff Paul Miyamoto counts among his law enforcement endorsers.

“I support Sheriff Chad Bianco, alongside other sheriffs in California, as a peer leader in law enforcement and in the work we do to keep our communities safe,” Sheriff Miyamoto said in a statement to KRON4. “Law enforcement is not defined by political parties, but grounded in a commitment to public safety and the integrity of the profession.”

Bianco, an outspoken supporter of President Donald Trump, is one of the leading Republicans in the running to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom next year. Bianco, 57, has previously admitted to having been a member of the Oath Keepers, a far-right militia group.

The Oath Keepers have been called “one of the largest far-right anti-government groups in the U.S. today,” by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Seventeen Oath Keeper members were indicted for their participation in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol building.

In a 2021 interview. Bianco downplayed his membership in the group, telling LAist, “I don’t even remember joining.” However, he also defended the group in the face of the Jan. 6 indictments, saying that, “Except for a few fringe people, that’s not really what they stand for.”

As the highest profile Republican to throw his hat into the gubernatorial race, Bianco was an outspoken supporter of Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, famously posting on social media, “I think it’s time we put a felon in the White House.”

On Wednesday, former Vice President Kamala Harris announced she would not be running for governor, effectively throwing the race wide open. Bianco posted on X about VP Harris bowing out of the race, calling it, “the first right decision in a career full of wrong ones.”

“Californians are tired of living in an unsafe state they cannot afford, and Kamala seems to understand that the status quo is impossible to defend,” he added.

Bianco, if he were to be elected, would be the first Republican to be elected to the office since Arnold Schwarzenegger, nearly two decades ago.