Michael Gates, the former Huntington Beach city attorney who spent his tenure as a staunch antagonist of California's liberal politics, is running for state attorney general as part of a ticket with Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton.
Gates, 50, announced the launch of his campaign for the state's top law enforcement job during an event on the Huntington Beach pier on Wednesday, flanked by Hilton, former state Senate Majority Leader Gloria Romero, who is running alongside Hilton for lieutenant governor, and a group of supporters.
“California has the highest cost of living and highest taxes, which are crushing families, and the elites in Sacramento continue to conspire to find ways to raise our taxes while leaving our streets unsafe for our families and our businesses,” Gates said. “Sacramento has shown that it is completely out of touch with ordinary Californians.”
Gates' speech launching his campaign had a similar tone to the message he used in his role as Huntington Beach city attorney, where he positioned himself in direct opposition to the state's Democratic leaders, including Governor Gavin Newsom and the current attorney general. General Rob Bonta.
Bonta announced this week that he would run for re-election and opted not to run for governor of California. As attorney general, Bonta has sued the Trump administration more than 50 times, calling the president's policies “vicious, inhumane, illegal” and, in many cases, unconstitutional.
Gates, a lifelong Republican, was first elected Huntington Beach city attorney in 2014 and re-elected twice. He served in the role until last year, when he was named deputy assistant attorney general in the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. After a 10-month stint in the federal government, Gates announced that he had resigned from the position so he could spend more time with his family. He was rehired to work as an assistant city attorney in Huntington Beach.
During his tenure in the city, Gates engaged in legal disputes with the state over voter ID, housing mandates, immigration and other issues with mixed results.
In recent years, the city successfully sued the state to recover millions of dollars in loans from redevelopment agencies for a waterfront development and an affordable senior housing project.
But legal fights over voter ID and housing have been less fruitful. Last year, the Fourth District Court of Appeal struck down a Huntington Beach law that would require residents to show identification to cast a vote in local elections.
The city's legal battle over housing requirements also took a blow last year when the state Supreme Court refused to review an appeals court ruling in favor of the state that forced the city to comply with state mandates for affordable housing. Huntington Beach had argued that its designation as a charter city exempted it from state directives.
“This man, Michael Gates, is the fighter we need for California,” Hilton said Wednesday, drawing applause from the crowd. “You know this better than anyone because he led that revolution right here in Huntington Beach.”
