Rob Bonta

Background

Rob Bonta was born in Quezon City, Philippines, and moved to California with his family as an infant, according to the Department of Justice. He attended public schools in California, worked his way through Yale University and earned his law degree at Yale Law School. He served more than eight years in the State Assembly, representing parts of the East Bay. He was appointed attorney general in 2021 and sworn in on April 23, 2021, as the state's 34th attorney general and the first person of Filipino descent to hold the office. Voters elected him to a four-year term in 2022.

In office

Since President Trump's second term began, California has sued the federal government 100 times under Bonta; the 100th suit, filed in October 2026, challenges immigration arrests at state courthouses. On October 14, 2026, he sued to stop the closure of the National Archives at San Francisco in San Bruno, arguing the agency did not consult the public. In September 2026 he filed two suits, with a coalition of 21 attorneys general, over federal changes to the Endangered Species Act.

With the city attorneys of San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego, he reached a $272.5 million settlement with Lyft on October 1, 2026 over driver misclassification from 2016 to 2020, with at least $237 million set aside for drivers. In September 2026 he led a group of states that settled their suit over Paramount's purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery; Paramount pledged more U.S. film production, a fund for displaced workers and monitoring of its newsrooms' independence. In August 2026, 29 states reached a settlement of up to $17 billion with Meta over harm to children; KQED reported that his office led it.

On September 24, 2026, the California Supreme Court ruled that Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco broke state law by seizing more than 650,000 ballots, and that Bonta acted within his power when he ordered the sheriff to pause the investigation. In July 2026 a San Francisco judge ruled that his Bureau of Gambling Control lacked authority for rules restricting blackjack at cardrooms; his office said it was reviewing its options.

On the ballot

Bonta is on the November 3, 2026 ballot for a four-year term. He and Republican Michael E. Gates were the top two finishers in the June 2 primary. Gates served about a decade as Huntington Beach city attorney and in 2025 was a deputy assistant attorney general in the U.S. Justice Department's Civil Rights Division; his ballot designation is Deputy United States Attorney. The California Democratic Party endorses Bonta and the California Republican Party endorses Gates. The office is next on the ballot November 5, 2030.