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EXCLUSIVE: Former UFC fighter Dan Henderson has officially endorsed Sheriff Chad Bianco for California governor in 2026, he told Pakinomist Digital.
Bianco, the current Riverside County sheriff, is running as a Republican and led the field in an October University of California, Berkeley poll over Republican challenger Steve Hilton and Democratic front-runner Katie Porter.
Henderson said Bianco earned his support in 2020 when the sheriff famously refused to enforce the state’s COVID-19 stay-at-home orders and mask mandates.
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“It was kind of a blessing that he didn’t shut everything down as long as we were responsible for everything. I kind of admired how he handled that whole situation,” Henderson said.
“A lot of business owners would have gone bankrupt, and maybe even worse, in terms of losing a lot of the things they had, if he had shut down the whole business like the governor wanted… It was more common sense, he didn’t panic and think the world was going to end.”
A lifelong California resident, Henderson has dealt with some difficulties in his home state in recent years under the leadership of Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Democrats. Henderson said that while he plans to stay in California, he has seen many of his closest friends flee to Texas, Tennessee and Florida.
Henderson shared his biggest complaints.
Gas prices
Henderson drives a Grenadier and said it takes about $100 to fill up his tank at current California gas prices. He wants to see the next governor take advantage of the natural oil off California’s coast to increase the state’s access to gasoline and bring down prices instead of relying on foreign suppliers.
“We have the highest rates in the country,” Henderson said. “We have a lot of oil underground that we don’t even use, but we buy everything and we have a big deficit every year because we don’t use our resources.”
The Migrant Crisis and ICE Agent Targeting
“I think everybody should come into our country legally, just like if we wanted to come into another country, we should do it legally,” Henderson said. “I have friends who are legal [immigrants]and they want to see everybody else come the way they did, legally.”
Residents surround federal agents and border patrol agents planning their escape after an immigrant raid in Bell, California, June 19, 2025. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
ICE agents in California have been frequent targets of protesters in 2025. In June, during an anti-ICE protest in downtown Los Angeles, protesters reportedly threw rocks and bottles at officers, resulting in injuries. In July 2025, agents conducting a raid in Camarillo and Oxnard were allegedly attacked with rocks and one of their vehicles was blocked and hit.
Newsom has signed several laws affecting ICE agents, including a measure that prohibits federal and local law enforcement officers from wearing masks that hide their identities while on duty. The laws also prohibit ICE from entering schools and hospitals without a warrant.
“[ICE] trying to protect everybody by getting criminals, not just immigrants, but more of the worst of the worst immigrants, not even immigrants, but illegals, and for them not to be able to do their jobs and make our state safer… I think it’s ridiculous that they have to deal with some of their biggest problems coming from our citizens, from some on the left.”
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Trans athletes in girls’ sports
California education policy currently allows biological males to compete in girls’ high school sports.
“It’s just not fair to women who train hard to beat other women, and you know, for their gender, they’re at the top of the world, but then they’re forced to compete against the men… in most sports, the girls don’t have a chance,” Henderson said.
Newsom himself has said several times that he believes men competing in girls’ sports is “unfair”. Yet he has taken no action to resolve the issue.
“He doesn’t really care about fixing it,” Henderson added.
Los Angeles wildfires
Newsom was the subject of enormous criticism when wildfires ravaged the city in January.
“[Newsom] just not ensured that everything was handled correctly. And there wasn’t enough water reserve, and that’s it. A lot of people didn’t know it was a problem, but I’m sure he did,” Henderson told Pakinomist Digital.
Newsom ordered an independent investigation from the Los Angeles Department of Water Pressure on Jan. 10 regarding the loss of water pressure and the intentional closing of the reservoir, calling it “deeply troubling,” according to court records.
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Governor Gavin Newsom and wildfires in LA (Getty)
Newsom added that the loss of water pressure “likely impaired” firefighters’ ability to protect homes and evacuation zones in Pacific Palisades.
