California Lawyer. Gen. Rob Bonta announced Sunday that he would not run for governor of California, a decision he said was based on his belief that his legal efforts to combat the Trump administration as the state's top prosecutor are paramount at this moment in history.
“Right now, my place is here, on the front lines, in the trenches, serving as a bulwark, creating a buffer around our state and our people, our values and our progress in the face of these ruthless, inhumane, illegal and cruel attacks by the Trump administration,” Bonta said in an interview Sunday night.
Bonta said his role as state Attorney General gives him more power to fight President Trump's policies that have disproportionately impacted Californians than he could have as governor.
“I have a role to play and I think it's a leading one in the nation,” Bonta said. “I want to continue to be the biggest and most powerful check against this president's abuse of power.”
Bonta said Trump's actions in Venezuela, attempts to block welfare funds to Democratic-led states and the shooting death of a mother of three in Minnesota last week by a federal immigration agent cemented his decision to seek re-election to his current position.
The 53-year-old former state lawmaker and close political ally of Gov. Gavin Newsom has served as the state's top law enforcement official since Newsom appointed him to the position in 2021, after Xavier Becerra became head of then-President Biden's U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Bonta's office has sued the Trump administration more than 50 times, a record that likely would have served him well had he decided to run in a state where Trump has lost three times and has dismal approval ratings.
In 2024, Bonta said he was considering running for governor. Then, in February, he announced that he had ruled it out and was instead focusing on doing the job of attorney general. After both former Vice President Kamala Harris and Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) announced in 2025 that they would not run for governor, Bonta began to reconsider, he said. Bonta's final decision not to run was first reported by Politico on Sunday.
“I already had two horses in the race for governor,” Bonta told the Times in November. “In the end they decided not to get involved… The race is fundamentally different today, right?”
The race for governor of California remains open. Newsom is serving the final year of his second term and cannot run again due to term limits. Newsom has said he is considering running for president in 2028.
Former Rep. Katie Porter, an early leader in polls, faltered late last year after videos surfaced of her yelling at an aide and berating a reporter. The videos helped him fall behind Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, a Republican, in a November poll published by UC Berkeley's Institute of Government Studies and co-sponsored by The Times.
Porter recovered slightly at the end of the year, a Public Policy Institute of California poll showed, but neither candidate has gained a majority of support and many voters remain undecided.
California has not elected a Republican governor since 2006, Democrats vastly outnumber Republicans in the state, and many are furious about Trump and seeking Democratic candidates willing to fight the current administration.
Unions and business leaders encouraged Bonta to enter the unstable race. Bonta said he had no immediate plans to endorse any candidate.
“I think it could have been a game-changer and I think it would have built a lot of support,” Bonta said. “I don't know what's going to happen. I think it's still very dynamic. It's not static, it's constantly changing. It's moving. It's changing. I think we'll potentially see more candidates enter the race.”
Bonta has faced questions in recent months about spending about $468,000 in campaign funds on legal advice last year while speaking to federal investigators about alleged corruption involving former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, who was charged in an alleged bribery scheme involving local businessmen David Trung Duong and Andy Hung Duong. All three have pleaded not guilty.
According to his political adviser Dan Newman, investigators approached Bonta, who had received campaign donations from the Duong family, because they initially viewed him as a “possible victim” in the alleged scheme, although that was later ruled out. Bonta has since 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 Californian, and Cynthia Bonta, a native of the Philippines who immigrated to the U.S. on a scholarship in 1965. A U.S. citizen, Bonta was born in Quezon City, Philippines, in 1972, when his parents were working there as missionaries, and immigrated with his family to California when he was an infant.
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 pushed for a series of criminal justice reforms and developed 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.
