In my previous article, I outlined a possible, credible pathway for California Republicans to take back the governor's mansion after sixteen years. With the right conditions and political ground game, especially with a disparate Democratic electorate divided among multiple high-profile nominees, the Republicans could flip legislative seats and other statewide offices this year.

Now, I want to focus on which of the two top Republican contenders should be the next governor, assuming that the beneficial projections are correct. The two main candidates in the competition are Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and former Fox News anchor and writer Steve Hilton. Both of them have Trump leanings and Trump connections. Neither of them is ashamed to say the word “conservative” or to talk about conservative policies. This distinction matters because prior California Republican gubernatorial candidates advertised their liberalism (Meg Whitman, Neel Kashkari) or said very little on the campaign trail (John Cox and Brian Dahle). 

Beyond those categories, there are considerable divergences as far as campaign, record, rhetoric, and resumé.

Sheriff Chad Bianco has been twice elected in a blue county. Granted, Trump finally won Riverside County in 2024, and he had lost the county by close margins in the previous two elections—but the current Congressional delegation is almost entirely blue, and the state legislative seats are Democratic, too, so Republican Bianco’s victories are significant. Not only that, but in 2018, Bianco defeated a RINO twenty-year incumbent with a history of misconduct. The previous sheriff also refused to issue concealed-carry weapons permits. In contrast, he opened up a one-stop shop for residents to obtain their permits, a risky move in a very gun-averse state like California. Bianco basically made Riverside a shall-issue county, while the rest of the state’s sheriffs operated under may-issue guidelines—and all of this before........

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