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Attorney General
California’s top cop carries out the governor’s law enforcement directives. The attorney general’s job touches almost every facet of life in California, from the environment to its tech sector and consumer protections. During both Trump administrations, the attorney general’s office led high-profile lawsuits defending policies favored by California Democrats.
Candidates
Rob Bonta
Bonta was appointed attorney general in 2021 and was elected to a four-year term in 2022. Before that, he was an assemblymember representing parts of the East Bay. As attorney general, Bonta spent much of his first term enforcing housing and criminal justice laws passed in the early 2020s, including laws compelling recalcitrant cities to build new housing. Since the reelection of Donald Trump, Bonta has filed or joined more than 50 lawsuits against his administration.
Michael E. Gates
Gates, a former trial attorney, served as Huntington Beach city attorney for a decade. In that role, he challenged what he viewed as lenient criminal justice policy emanating from the state capital. He also fought elements of the new housing laws that would have compelled Huntington Beach to build more affordable housing. In 2025, Gates was appointed a deputy assistant attorney general in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, a job he left in November when he returned to the Huntington Beach city attorney’s office.
Endorsements
Rob Bonta
Michael E. Gates
Fundraising
Direct contributions
Candidates must disclose large donors if they give $100 or more over the course of the campaign. Small donors give less than $100; we have excluded them from the contributor table below.
- Large donors
- Small donors
- Self-funding
- Funding difference
Rob Bonta
Michael E. Gates
Outside spending
Groups not coordinating with candidates must report money they spend to influence elections.
- Support
- Oppose
- Spending difference
Rob Bonta
