The Riverside County Registrar of Voters certified the June 7 primary election Thursday, June 30, and both Sheriff Chad Bianco and District Attorney Mike Hestrin have secured another term with an overwhelming majority of votes.
The Registrar of Voters finished certifying the vote a week before the deadline and results showed a low voter turnout with only 29% of the county’s registered voters casting a ballot in the primary election.
The June primary featured contests for county, state and congressional offices.
Sheriff
Incumbent Chad Bianco easily secured a new four-year term by securing 61% of the vote over retired sheriff’s Capt. Michael Lujan who walked away with only 39% of voters casting a ballot in his name.
Bianco, who resides in Riverside, was first elected in 2018, after a hard-fought contest against then-Sheriff Stan Sniff. Bianco has been tested on several fronts since then, drawing both criticism and praise for his stance on everything from his 2014 membership with the far-right organization Oath Keepers to his resistance to enforcing mask mandates within Riverside County and the increase in concealed carry weapon permits issued since he took office.
Lujan, who was promoted to captain in 2019 by Bianco and assigned to the Lake Elsinore Station, was placed on administrative leave before his retirement “after allegations surfaced that a DUI traffic accident involving one of his subordinates at the Lake Elsinore Sheriff’s Station was covered up,” the Desert Sun reported in 2020.
“During the investigation, allegations were made that (Lujan) used his position to personally influence the investigation,” Bianco said in a statement to the Desert Sun, “He retired and stopped cooperating. With that, we were unable to complete the investigation.”
District Attorney
Incumbent Mike Hestrin avoided a runoff with 55% of the vote over challengers Lara Gressley and Burke Strunsky who each got roughly 22% of the vote with Gressley securing 359 votes more than Strunsky, putting her in second place in the race.
Hestrin, who was first elected in 2014, has faced a series of challenges including those stemming from changes in state law, most notably Propositions 47 and 64, as well as Senate Bill 1437, which permits convicted murderers to file petitions for sentencing reductions based on various factors.
Gressley, a criminal defense and appellate lawyer based in Temecula, lost to Hestrin in the 2018 election while Strunsky, a Riverside County Superior Court Judge, said he decided to run for the seat as District Attorney because he was seeing what he called “great injustices and great ineffectiveness” from Hestrin’s office.
Board of Supervisors
In the race to secure the seat for the 5th District on the Board of Supervisors incumbent Jeff Hewitt and Moreno Valley Mayor Yxstian Gutierrez will face off in November to represent the district that includes Hemet, San Jacinto, part of Valle Vista and spans the San Gorgonio Pass.
Hewitt, who is also serving as chair of the board until the end of the year, is seeking a second term on the board, to which he was first elected in 2018, after a stint as mayor of Calimesa.
Gutierrez secured 33.57% of the vote, with Hewitt coming in second with 31.76%. Beaumont Mayor Lloyd White had 26.15% of the vote and Hemet attorney DeniAntionette Mazingo came in last with 8.52%.
Riverside County 2nd District Supervisor Karen Spiegel and Riverside County 4th District Supervisor Manny Perez were both unchallenged in the primary election and will retain their seats on the Board of Supervisors.
Auditor-Controller
Wildomar Mayor Ben Benoit (46%) will face off against incumbent Paul Angulo (39%) in the race to secure the seat at Riverside County’s Auditor-Controller since neither received enough votes to avoid a runoff. Challenger Marshall Campbell came in third with 15% of the vote.
The state is expected to certify all election results July 15.
Kim Harris can be reached by email at valleyeditor@reedermedia.com.
