California GOP gubernatorial candidate Chad Bianco ramps up attacks on soft-on-crime policies and Newsom’s refusal to fund Prop 36 as ballots drop for the June jungle primary.
Republican California gubernatorial candidate Chad Bianco is honing in on the state’s soft-on-crime policies as the race to advance the top two candidates through the jungle primary heats up.
Bianco, the Riverside County sheriff, is battling fellow Republican Steve Hilton for a spot in the top two in California’s jungle primary. Recent polls show the two Republicans leading the crowded field, but the vote split on the right has Democrats hoping for a lockout in November.
Ballots officially hit voters’ mailboxes in early May, with candidates ramping up their campaigns ahead of the June primary and the general election later this year. While Democratic candidates have focused on issues like illegal immigration and anti-Trump rhetoric, Bianco released a new video Tuesday highlighting his push against the state’s soft-on-crime policies. (RELATED: AG Hopeful Michael Gates Takes Aim at “Bonta Corruption Syndicate”)
In the new ad from the Riverside County sheriff’s campaign, Bianco states that he and well-known journalist Chris Hansen helped save 51 kids from child predators. However, the GOP candidate notes that due to the state’s policies, it has become harder to keep “child predators” off the streets.
“They are actually giving more resources to criminals than they are to our students,” Bianco states. “We need policies that keep child predators away from our kids. Soft on crime politicians created this mess.”
In the last year, Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom has touted the state’s lowering crime statistics. Those improvements, however, follow a dramatic spike during the pandemic years.
In 2020, California saw a major jump in crimes like homicide, which rose 31%. Homicides continued climbing the following year, along with violent crime rates more broadly.
Major cities such as Los Angeles and San Francisco were hit especially hard, with massive retail thefts, commonly known as “smash-and-grabs,” widespread destruction of stores during the 2020 riots, and a surge in homicides.
The increase in violence fueled voter frustration with the 2014-era Proposition 47, otherwise known as the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act.
The measure, passed by voters, reclassified many nonviolent drug possession and property theft crimes under $950 from felonies to misdemeanors. The reduction in penalties and redirection of prison savings, according to the measure, would then go to education and treatment programs.
But just a few years after the spike in crime throughout the state, voters pushed to reverse key parts of Proposition 47 in 2024, overwhelmingly supporting Proposition 36.
Proposition 36, approved by voters in November 2024 with 68.4% support, aimed at cracking down on retail theft and drug use and reinstating criminal punishments for those who shoplift or commit grand theft.
However, despite voters calling on the state to crack down on crime, Newsom declined to fully fund Proposition 36.
“Nearly three quarters of the state voted for an end to the Prop 47 caused issues of homelessness and theft fueled by drug and alcohol induced psychosis, abuse, and a mental health crisis,” Bianco told the California Courier. “The governor, the legislature, and the other 25 percent want to keep the status quo of the homeless industrial complex causing Californians to suffer from addiction and mental health issues, dying on our streets.”
“Californians voted for increased and available compassionate treatment centers. It’s time for the governor and the super majority to deliver the solution that voter’s demand. Law Enforcement across California demand the funding of treatment centers, instead of the forced overcrowding of our jails,” Bianco added.
During the Proposition 36 campaign, Newsom opposed the measure, citing concerns over mass incarceration. Even after its passage, he noted that the proposition passed without a dedicated funding source and said counties now had to “do their job.”
“The state’s not the only spigot. Counties have to do their job. There were a lot of supervisors in the counties that promoted it, so this is their opportunity to step up, fund it. There were city mayors that supported it. It’s their opportunity to step up, fund it,” Newsom stated in 2025.
Newsom’s proposed 2026-27 budget again included no dedicated new funding for Proposition 36 implementation, prompting criticism from law enforcement groups and Republican lawmakers.
While official statistics show violent crime and property crime trending downward in 2025, many residents remain deeply concerned.
According to an October 2025 Public Policy Institute of California survey, 60% of Californians say street crime and property crime are a problem in their community, and roughly 30% believe both types of crime have increased locally in the past year.
