California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta announced Sunday that he will not run for governor of California, a decision based on his belief that his legal efforts against Trump’s administration as attorney general are important at this time in history.
“Watching this horrifying dystopian life reaffirmed something I’ve felt my whole life: this time, my place is here – protecting the people of California from the most shameful attacks on our rights and our families,” Bonta said in a statement. “My view of the California Department of Justice is that we remain the nation’s largest and most powerful check in power.”
Bonta said President Trump’s blocking of social security funding in California and the shooting of a mother of three in Minnesota last week cemented his decision to run for office, according to Politico, which first reported that Bonta would not run for governor.
Bonta, 53, a former state attorney and a close friend of Gov. Gavin Newsom in politics, has served as the top law enforcement officer since Newsom appointed him to this position in 2021. In the past year, his office has sued the Trump administration more than 50 times — a record that might have served him well had he decided to preside over the state three times Trump lost.
Bonta said in 2024 that he is thinking of running. In February, he announced that he had scrapped that and was instead focusing on the attorney general’s job, which he considers a top priority under the Trump administration. Then, both former Vice President Kamala Harris and Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) announced that he would not run for governor, and Bonta began to reconsider, he said.
“I already had two horses in the governor’s race,” Bonta told The Times in November. “They decided not to get involved in the end. … The race is very different today, isn’t it?”
The race for governor of California remains open. Newsom is serving the final year of his second term and is barred from running again due to term limits. Newsom said he is considering running for president in 2028.
Former Rep. Katie Porter – the early frontrunner in the polls – late last year lost ground after videos surfaced of her screaming at an aide and yelling at a reporter. The videos contributed to her loss to Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, a Republican, in a November poll released by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies and sponsored by The Times.
Porter made a slight resurgence late in the year, a poll by the Public Policy Institute of California showed, but neither candidate had much support and many voters were undecided.
California hasn’t elected a Republican governor since 2006, Democrats outnumber Republicans in the state, and many are furious with Trump and want Democratic candidates willing to challenge the current administration.
Bonta has faced questions in recent months about spending about $468,000 in campaign money on legal advice last year as he spoke to federal investigators about corruption allegations involving former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, who was indicted in a bribery scheme involving local businessmen David Trung Duong and Andy Hung Duong. All three deny the charges.
According to his political adviser Dan Newman, Bonta – who had received campaign donations from the Duong family – was approached by investigators because he was initially considered a “potential victim” in the alleged scheme, although that was later dismissed. Bonta has returned $155,000 in campaign contributions from the Duong family, according to news reports.
Bonta is the son of civil rights activists Warren Bonta, a white native of California, and Cynthia Bonta, a native of the Philippines who immigrated to the US on a scholarship in 1965. Bonta, an American citizen, was born in Quezon City, Philippines, in 1972, while his parents were working there as missionaries, and moved with his family to California.
In 2012, Bonta was elected to represent Oakland, Alameda and San Leandro as the first Filipino American to serve in the California Legislature. In Sacramento, he pursued a series of criminal justice reforms and made a record as one of the body’s most liberal members.
Bonta is married to Assemblywoman Mia Bonta (D-Alameda), who succeeded him in the state Assembly, and the couple has three children.
Times staff writer Dakota Smith contributed to this report.
