Bonta faces two opponents in attorney general race

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Editor's note: This is the part of a series of stories that are appearing this week on the June 2 primary election in California. The stories include comments from candidates who agreed to interviews with The Center Square.

(The Center Square) – California Attorney General Rob Bonta is facing two opponents in his bid for reelection in the June 2 primary 

The “jungle primary,” as it is called, will result in the top two vote earners, regardless of party affiliation, advancing to the general election in November.

Bonta has not responded to The Center Square's requests for an interview, but the Democratic attorney general states on his campaign website that since entering office in 2021, he has been “tackling crime, addressing the rising cost of living, or holding bad actors accountable” when they harm the people of California.

Bonta has also sued the federal government 68 times since President Donald Trump reentered office. Many lawsuits were filed as part of a coalition of Democratic attorneys general and were directed to keep federal funding for California programs. This includes this week's challenge over the Trump administration’s attempt to limit student loan access for healthcare workers.

“Nurses, physician assistants, and other health professionals are absolutely vital to keep our healthcare system running,” said  Bonta in a press release. “Now, the Trump Administration is threatening to make this crisis even worse by limiting students' access to the federal student loans that make it possible to pursue the professional degrees needed for critical specialized work.”

Bonta said this is illegal and he looks forward to seeing Trump in court.

One of Bonta's opponents in the primary, Republican candidate Michael Gates, worked for the Trump administration at the Department of Justice. A lifelong resident of California, Gates is a former deputy U.S. attorney. He's also a former city attorney for Huntington Beach. While there, Gates said he was tough on crime, a position he intends to continue to hold as attorney general.

“I've made Huntington Beach one of the top 10 safest cities in the entire state of California out of nearly 500 cities,” Gates told The Center Square. “We're in the top 1% of safest cities in the state of California because of my tough-on-crime stance and my prosecution efforts here in the city, basically not putting up with anything and enforcing the law to the fullest extent.”

Gates said he also fought “nonsense coming out of Sacramento.” Examples offered by Gates include “the attack on parental rights,” COVID-19 shutdowns and the high-density housing mandates.

“The list goes on and on and on,” said Gates.

The candidate went on to note Bonta has a long history of problems.

“He spent half a million dollars on criminal defense attorneys to defend himself in the face of tough questions being asked by various investigative agencies, including the federal government, believe it or not,” said Gates. “Some of his associations were under FBI probe for corruption and other criminal issues, and the polls are showing that he's way below 50%.”

Meanwhile, Green Party candidate Marjorie Mikels is on record as saying she is the best choice for attorney general.

“Since California became a state in 1848, there have been 38 attorneys general, and only one has been a woman,” Mikels told The Center Square. “That was Kamala Harris, and so the Green Party and the Left Unity Slate were seeking a woman to run for this office.”

“I am running to save the environment, to get off oil and gas as soon as possible, and to clean up our water and our air,” said Mikels. “I’ve also been anti-war a long time, so it’s time to jump in.”

When it comes to her competition, Mikels said she would not want to vote for Gates. She also said she and Bonta disagree on certain things, including Assembly Bill 715.

“That was a bill which basically makes it illegal for schoolteachers to even mention in the schools anything about Gaza or Palestine or anything like that,” said Mikels. “It's a backdoor censorship by failing to define anti-Semitism for what it really is.”

“We abhor that [anti-Semitism], of course, but they want to conflate constitutionally protected criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism, and so it's basically censoring the speech of schoolteachers,” said Mikels. “They could be brought up before this special board, you know, and anyway, there are lawsuits against the governor who signed that bill, and Bonta.”

Polls are open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on June 2, Election Day. For more information, go to the Secretary of State's website, sos.ca.gov. Early election results will be published on the evening of June 2 at www.thecentersquare.com/california.