The race for governor in California has taken an unexpected twist, centering around an unlikely topic: facial hair.
In a fascinating development, voters could elect a candidate with a beard or mustache for the first time since the era of the Great Depression. This has thrust facial hair into the spotlight, becoming a contentious issue in one of the nation’s most significant elections.
Republican contenders Chad Bianco and Steve Hilton are locked in a heated battle, clashing over key issues like crime and homelessness, but also sparring over mustache styles and the authenticity of their beards. Both are vying for a coveted position in the top two of the June 2 primary.
Chad Bianco, who serves as Riverside County sheriff, is recognizable for his prominent salt-and-pepper mustache and has embraced the attention it has garnered.
His supporters claim that his facial hair exudes toughness and authority, traits that resonate with California voters seeking strong leadership.
Bianco’s camp has also launched direct criticisms at Steve Hilton, suggesting that the former political commentator’s beard was grown merely as a strategic move to compete with Bianco’s signature mustache.
Hilton’s gray-speckled beard quickly drew national attention after Donald Trump Jr. praised it online as a “MAGA beard,” but Bianco supporters dismissed the look as forced and unimpressive compared to the sheriff’s longtime mustache.
Bianco has claimed Hilton only grew the beard to rival the mustache he has worn since his teenage years.
Hilton insists the beard wasn’t part of some political strategy.
According to Hilton, he stopped shaving during a family vacation, received positive feedback about the stubble and decided to keep it for campaign appearances after noticing strong reactions from voters.
He said he’s given “literally zero thought” to Bianco’s mustache, though he acknowledged critics have compared the sheriff’s look to Yosemite Sam, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The facial-hair feud has become so intense that even Bianco’s grooming style is under debate.
Some supporters classify it as a walrus mustache resembling the ones famously worn by Wilford Brimley and Theodore Roosevelt.
Others insist it falls closer to a horseshoe mustache similar to Hulk Hogan’s signature style.
Historian Sean Trainor, whose dissertation “Groomed for Power” examined the rise of political facial hair in the 19th century, said the country is entering “this kind of new bearded age,” the WSJ reported.
The timing is notable.
California has not elected a governor with facial hair since Republican James “Sunny Jim” Rolph, whose toothbrush mustache appeared in his official portrait before he died in office in 1934.
Rolph’s era marked the tail end of facial hair’s dominance in American politics, a trend once epitomized by President Rutherford B. Hayes and his famously massive beard.
Now, the look appears to be making a comeback nationwide.
Vice President JD Vance became the first facial-haired VP in nearly a century after President Trump compared his beard to a “young Abraham Lincoln.”
The last vice president with facial hair was Charles Curtis under Herbert Hoover.
Early polling suggested Bianco and Hilton were nearly tied and both could advance out of the primary.
More recent polls now show Hilton leading alongside Democrat Xavier Becerra, setting up the possibility that California voters in November could face a choice between scruff and a clean shave.
