The endorsement comes as California’s June primary draws nearer and the contest to replace Newsom intensifies, with both parties maneuvering for advantage in a state long dominated by Democrats but increasingly strained by high costs, crime, and outmigration, according to Western Journal.
Ratzenberger, who has spent decades in the entertainment industry while championing American manufacturing, is positioning Bianco as the candidate capable of reversing what many conservatives see as the state’s steep decline under progressive governance.
Ratzenberger has been a fixture in Hollywood for more than 20 years, achieving fame as Cliff Clavin on “Cheers” and later voicing iconic characters in Pixar hits such as “Toy Story,” “Cars,” and “Monsters, Inc.” Now, he is leveraging that name recognition to back Bianco, the Riverside County sheriff whose refusal to enforce some of Newsom’s strict COVID mandates earned him praise from small-business owners and constitutional conservatives alike.
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In an exclusive statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation, Ratzenberger made clear that his support for Bianco is rooted in deep frustration with Newsom’s handling of the pandemic and its economic fallout. Reflecting on the governor’s conduct during the 2020 lockdowns, he said the only person he trusts to “fix the mess” Newsom is leaving behind is Bianco, underscoring a broader conservative critique that California’s ruling class insulated itself while ordinary workers and entrepreneurs paid the price.
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“I’ve spent years traveling the country trying to bring back America’s manufacturing. I’ve talked with manufacturers across this country who, prior to President Trump, were completely overlooked. In California, Gavin Newsom spent his time partying with celebrities while businesses were forced closed. There is only one man I trust to fix the mess Gavin Newsom is leaving behind, and that’s Sheriff Chad Bianco,” Ratzenberger told the Daily Caller News Foundation. Those remarks echo long-standing complaints from the right that Newsom and his allies enforced some of the harshest restrictions in the nation while flouting their own rules, most infamously at elite gatherings as small businesses collapsed.
Ratzenberger further praised Bianco’s refusal to criminalize business owners who tried to stay afloat during the shutdowns. “When Newsom shut down California, Sheriff Bianco refused to arrest people for keeping their businesses open. He gets it,” Ratzenberger added. “It’s going to take his background and experience to finally put an end to the crime and corruption that has plagued California for years.”
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California’s COVID regime was among the most prolonged and intrusive in the country, operating under the “Blueprint for a Safer Economy” tier system that dictated which businesses could open and under what conditions. While most states, including many led by Democrats, imposed stay-at-home orders in April 2020 and lifted them by May of that year, California did not fully dismantle its tier system until June 2021, according to World Population Review, leaving families and employers under rolling restrictions for more than a year longer than much of the nation.
The economic and demographic consequences were severe, particularly for the working and middle classes that conservatives argue are most harmed by heavy-handed regulation. As small businesses and workers struggled to survive, California saw a mass exodus between April 2020 and July 2022, losing roughly 500,000 residents, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released in 2024, and although the state later regained about 67,000 residents, the California Department of Finance warned in 2024 that it is “likely to experience slower but positive growth for the near future.”
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Beyond the population drain, Newsom’s administration has faced sustained criticism over its handling of unemployment benefits and fiscal obligations tied to the pandemic. California remains the only state that has not repaid its COVID unemployment debt to the federal government, and in 2021 the Employment Development Department came under fire for its estimates of fraudulent Pandemic Unemployment Assistance payouts, reinforcing conservative arguments about mismanagement and lack of accountability in Sacramento.
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Ratzenberger’s endorsement of Bianco aligns with his broader support for President Donald Trump and a renewed emphasis on domestic industry and skilled labor. He told Fox News Digital that he and Trump share a commitment to “bringing back America’s manufacturing,” specifically highlighting the shortage of workers with manufacturing skills, a theme that resonates with voters who feel left behind by globalism and progressive climate policies that have driven up energy and regulatory costs.
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The 2026 gubernatorial field is already crowded, with roughly eight prominent Democrats and two Republicans, including Bianco, vying to succeed Newsom in a state that has not elected a Republican governor since Arnold Schwarzenegger.
An Emerson College Polling and Inside California Politics survey released in December showed Bianco narrowly leading the pack with 13 percent support, followed by Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell at 12 percent, former Fox News host Steve Hilton also at 12 percent, and former Democratic Rep. Katie Porter at 11 percent, suggesting that Democrats could face a bruising primary while a law-and-order conservative like Bianco consolidates support on the right.
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For conservatives, Ratzenberger’s backing underscores a broader narrative that California stands at a crossroads after years of progressive rule marked by soaring costs, rampant homelessness, and public safety concerns. Whether Bianco can convert that frustration into a viable statewide coalition remains to be seen, but voices like Ratzenberger’s are amplifying a message that many disillusioned Californians are already asking: after lockdowns, debt, and outmigration, is it time to give a different philosophy of governance a chance in Sacramento.
