Pro-Trump California sheriff reacts to former Orange County Rep. Katie Porter’s gubernatorial bid
Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, who joined the race to be California’s next governor in February, has issued a statement reacting to former U.S. Rep. and Senate candidate Katie Porter, who announced her intent to run for governor Tuesday morning.
“Katie Porter is a failed progressive Democrat with a history of supporting policies that increased inflation, grocery, gas and energy prices,” Blanco said in a statement.
“She is cut from the same cloth as the failed career politicians who created California’s cost-of-living crisis. We cannot expect the same people who created this mess to get us out of it. Californians deserve so much better,”
In an interview with KTLA, Blanco explained that he was running for governor because of a “failing” state government that has raised the cost of living and raised concerns over crime, making California a “laughingstock.”
He also told KTLA that the state’s government is the “worst” at every part of governing. Taking a page from the playbook of Elon Musk and President Donald Trump, with whom Bianco campaigned last year, he criticized the “waste” at the state’s top level.
On the other hand, Porter said that if elected, she would vow to take on the Trump administration’s “dangerous leaders,” pointing to her time in Congress during the president’s first term.
Porter also said it was time for “new ideas” on issues like the economy, climate, food costs, housing and health care, and “fundamental rights,” which she says are in jeopardy.
The former Orange County congresswoman joins an already crowded race to replace Gavin Newsom, who is term-limited. The field includes Blanco, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Lt. Governor Eleni Kounalakis, California Superintendent Tony Thurmond, former State Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins and former State Controller Betty Yee.
There is also speculation that former Vice President and California Attorney General Kamala Harris could seek the state’s highest office.