The registered-Democrat and relatively left-leaning SF Sheriff Paul Miyamoto shocked the political class with his unexpected endorsement last week of a hard-right MAGA firebrand for governor, but says it’s just because the two of them are friends.
The big bombshell in the 2026 California Governor’s race dropped last Thursday, when Kamala Harris announced she would not run for governor to succeed Gavin Newsom when his term expires. But later that same day, Mission Local had some surprising governor’s race news, breaking the story that SF Sheriff Paul Miyamoto had endorsed the far-right MAGA Republican candidate in the race, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco.
This seemed baffling — Miyamoto supports sanctuary cities and his grandparents were even put in internment camps during World War II, while Bianco is virulently anti-immigrant and endorsed Trump by announcing, “I think it’s time we put a felon in the White House. Trump 2024, baby. Let’s save this country and make America great again.”
Mission Local got a statement out of Miyamoto, though it did not do much explaining. “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,” Miyamoto told Mission Local. “Law enforcement is not defined by political parties, but grounded in a commitment to public safety and the integrity of the profession.”
But Miyamoto’s endorsement of an outspoken MAGA diehard is still creating enough bewilderment that the Chronicle had some follow-up questions, and so did KQED, and Mission Local did some more asking around too. It appears that we have the simple explanation, which may still be troubling, that Miyamoto made the endorsement just because he’s friends with the guy.
“I honestly don’t know what his stance is on every issue,” Miyamoto told the Chronicle. “I’m looking at this as supporting a peer and a friend, someone who’s doing the exact same job that I am.”
Mission Local asked a few political pundits about this, and Willie Brown lent his take. “They are both sheriffs. There’s no other reason and you don’t need any other reason,” Brown told that outlet, adding that Miyamoto “may not even be thinking politically.”
That’s the sense one gets from Miyamoto's remarks to KQED. “One thing about law enforcement and public safety is that all sheriffs are consistent in wanting to keep their community safe,” he told that station. “We all have different constituencies, but we have the underlying foundation of all working towards keeping people safe, and that’s something I know that Chad Bianco is earnest about.”
This will ultimately likely be a non-story, because Chad Bianco’s run for governor will probably be a non-story too. He is exceedingly unlikely to finish in first or second place in the “top two” primary, let alone win the race.
And Miyamoto seems to realize this, admitting to the Chronicle “That might have been part of my consideration: I’m not really thinking he’s gonna win.”
Image: (Left) @SheriffSF via Twitter (Right) @ChadBianco via Twitter
