Digital Social Hour - Sheriff Bianco: California Is Being Distracted While Everything Gets Worse | DSH #1758

Date: January 15, 2026
Podcast Host: Sean Kelly
Guest: Sheriff Chad Bianco (California gubernatorial candidate)

Episode Overview

In this episode, Sean Kelly interviews Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, a leading Republican candidate for California governor. The conversation is a candid, unfiltered dive into the state’s most pressing issues: government corruption, outmigration, homelessness, rising living costs, public safety, and the dysfunction of one-party rule. Bianco shares personal motivations for running, critiques California’s current and recent leadership (especially Gavin Newsom), and lays out his vision for a turnaround rooted in accountability, deregulation, and restored public safety.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Political Distraction and Avoidance of Core Issues

• Distracting from real problems: Sheriff Bianco claims California politicians focus on national culture wars (Trump, immigration, federal government) to avoid talking about substantive state crises:

  “Everything that they talk about in politics in California has nothing to do with California... Let's fight President Trump instead of letting everyone be aware that California is up for election again and we failed you.” (00:00)

• The media’s role: The coverage amplifies distractions, fueling bread-and-circus politics while neglecting issues such as cost of living, taxes, and regulation.

2. Demographic Shifts and Outmigration

• For the first time, Californians are leaving in droves:

  "For the first time ever, people are leaving instead of coming." (02:35)

• The official statistics underplay this; population loss is more drastic because many counted as ‘arrivals’ are undocumented migrants, not new citizens or workers.
• Consequences: Loss of businesses, skilled workers, and young families seeking a better cost of living.

3. Cost of Living, Housing, and Business Exodus

• Extreme regulatory barriers drive costs up:
  • Building a home takes 3–5 years in California due to regulation, compared to 90 days elsewhere.
  • Quote: “We just learned that... it would be between five and ten years before [people] were able to build their home back...[builders] say that they should be building houses 90 days from start to finish. California is three to five years. And it's all regulatory, a bad regulatory climate that politics has created.” (04:04)
• Business climate: Taxes and regulation are pushing out major employers like Elon Musk and dozens of manufacturing companies.

4. Homelessness: Crisis Exacerbated by Corruption

• Misuse of funds:

  “Not only did it [homelessness] get worse, the money's gone and not accounted for. They don't even know where it went.” (05:01)

  • $25 billion unaccounted for, used by nonprofits and politicians for self-enrichment.
• Homeless 'industrial complex': Many nonprofits spend 99% of funds on administration; hundreds receive millions while helping few people.

  "Money makes it worse...We've created an industrial complex...taxpayer money is going to nonprofits and NGOs to buy up buildings to make people rich...if you fix the situation, all of that money's gone." (42:40, 43:37)

5. One-Party Rule and Corruption in Sacramento

• No checks and balances:

  “California government has gotten so broken under a one party system, a one party rule, that there is no more accountability. They, they truly do operate like monopoly money.” (05:13)

• Gerrymandering: Prop 50 further rigged districts; as a result, Bianco claims there may soon be zero Republican federal representatives from California.

  “…They've rigged it where theoretically, on paper, there will not be a Republican representative in federal government anymore from California.” (09:12)

6. Public Safety

• Crime decriminalized: Bianco argues that soft-on-crime policies have driven lawlessness, making safety his campaign’s #1 issue.

  “We have made over the last maybe...15 years in California, we have made crime not a crime. So with me as the governor...crime will be made a crime again.” (13:46)

• High-profile support: Bianco claims endorsement from all 58 county sheriffs and, soon, from major firefighter organizations.

  "There are 58 sheriffs in the state and they're all supporting me." (50:07)

7. The Voter Base and Political System

• Voters vote on party identity, not character:

  “If Charles Manson in California...ran for governor as a Democrat and he was the only person on the ballot, he would win. Because people in California, if you're a Democrat, it doesn't matter who you're voting for…We have to start voting for character.” (10:16)

• Bianco stresses authenticity, refusing to change party for electoral advantage:

  "I'm not changing for anybody...I've been registered as a Republican since I was 17, 17 and a half. And I'm not going to change just to try and be the typical politician to get somebody's vote." (11:00)

8. Personal Motivation and Leadership Philosophy

• Considered retiring:

  "It truly was only in the last couple of years with things just going absolutely nuts in California...I would have never in a million years thought about doing this." (02:07)

• Felt called after presidential inauguration:

  “...as he's talking...my brain thinking, this guy has everything that anyone could ever want...and he is choosing to go through all of the crap that he is going through to make Americans lives better...I don't have to do this. My life is good...but I know I can make a difference for a lot of people in California, and that's what made me change." (24:48, 26:26)

• Public service ethos: 32 years in law enforcement, viewing every day as “everyone else’s worst day,” he expresses a readiness to confront California’s emergencies at scale. (29:10)

9. Election Security and Mail-in Ballots

• Insists on election reform:

  “Mail in ballots have got to go…You can't have a secure election when you don't even know who's voting.” (51:09)

• Pushing for voter ID and exclusively in-person voting by his term.

10. Views on Gavin Newsom and Political Adversaries

• On Newsom:

  “He is pure evil. In the amount of Californians that he has sacrificed, that he has made millions, if tens of millions of people's lives miserable for his own political benefit. That's evil.” (44:19)

• On Newsom’s presidential ambitions:

  “There are too many people in California that have been harmed that will never allow him to do the same thing to the country…just the eight years of him being the governor, absolute disaster for California. And how anyone in the country would say, oh, yeah, bring that on…I want that for the rest of us in the country, it's not going to happen.” (19:38)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On politics as distraction:

  “Everything that they talk about in politics in California has nothing to do with California...Let's fight President Trump instead…” — Sheriff Bianco (00:00)

• On unaccounted-for homelessness funds:

  “25 billion that they can't account for.” (05:11)

• On party-line voting:

  “If Charles Manson...ran for governor as a Democrat...he would win...” (10:16)

• On public safety:

  “We have made over the last...years in California, we have made crime not a crime.” (13:46)

• On Sacramento's corruption:

  "Sacramento is an absolute corrupt city...Our Capitol building is absolutely beautiful. But if you go there, you can't go there at night...the amount of psychotic homeless people that are in downtown Sacramento, it's crazy." (36:07, 37:01)

• On Newsom:

  “He is pure evil.” (44:19)

• On motivation:

  “I know I can make a difference for a lot of people in California, and that's what made me change.” (26:26)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• Opening critique of CA political distractions: 00:00–02:00
• Demographic decline & outmigration explained: 02:33–03:56
• Overregulation in housing/business: 04:00–05:00, 16:18–17:33
• Homelessness & unaccounted billions: 05:01–06:01, 42:38–43:50
• Discussing party-line voting & political authenticity: 09:44–12:18
• Bianco’s lead in the polls/first time Republican in decades: 12:22–12:42
• Public safety priority/personal background: 13:25–15:00, 28:56–30:13
• Election reform & voter ID: 51:09–51:56
• All 58 sheriffs backing Bianco, law enforcement support: 50:07–50:53
• Views on Newsom & “evil” political leadership: 44:19–45:47
• Personal motivation—story of decision at inauguration: 24:03–28:18

Engaging Takeaways

• Sheriff Bianco represents an insurgent, reformist voice with strong law enforcement backing, pitching himself as a “fixer” amid crisis.
• He paints California’s failures as the result of political distraction and self-dealing, not resource shortages.
• Restoration of safety, deregulation, transparency, and integrity are Bianco’s central campaign themes, with a deep critique of both Democratic rule and, at times, the party system itself.
• The episode resonates with those who are fed up with California’s political status quo and lays out a roadmap for a possible statewide political realignment.

This summary reflects the guest’s and host’s views and delivers a thorough engagement with the central topics covered. For listeners seeking to understand Sheriff Bianco’s candidacy and worldview, it is honest, critical, and unafraid to push back on California's political establishment.