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John Seiler: Michael Gates wants to unseat Rob Bonta. Can he do it?

March 25, 2026

The last Republicans to win statewide office in California were Arnold Schwarzenegger and Steve Poizner in 2006. The last elected attorney general was Dan Lungren in 1994.

That’s the hurdle Michael Gates hopes to jump this year. In the June 2 primary, he’s running for AG against incumbent Democrat Rob Bonta and the Green Party’s Marjorie Mikels, listed as a “justice advocate.”

Before a short stint last year in the U.S. Department of Justice as a deputy assistant attorney general, Gates was the controversial city attorney of Huntington Beach from his first election in 2014. In that role, he frequently sparred with the state.

“I fought the high-density housing mandates for years, and to date, the city has not adopted a high-density housing program,” he told me. In February, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the city’s appeal against the state on the matter.

Gates said he was the “main architect” of Measure A in March 2024, which passed 53% to 47% and mandated showing an ID to vote in city elections. After the Legislature passed a law banning the practice, last month the state Supreme Court refused to hear the city’s reinstatement appeal.

Gates also said he won $38 million suing California. The main win was $24 million from the Waterfront Loan case, involving repayment for a redevelopment loan.

It’s clear Gates would be a combative state AG.

One of my main problems with Bonta has been his approach to writing titles and summaries for statewide ballot initiatives. After his appointment by Newsom in 2021, the SCNG Editorial Board endorsed Bonta’s reelection, in part, for his “neutral” wording for initiatives in 2022. But that didn’t last long. We criticized his distortions on 2024 initiatives and in 2025 called for moving the ballot wording duties to the Legislative Analyst’s Office.

On this front, Gates promised a return to neutrality. He says Californians tell him, “Our attorney general basically lies to us and misrepresents the ballot initiatives.”

A major controversy under Lungren, the last Republican to hold the office, was over “civil asset forfeiture,” a process by which the government sues the property, not the owner, alleging its use in a crime. Often the property owner was innocent, but had to pay large legal fees to gain back his property.

Abuses led to the passage in 1994 of Assembly Bill 114, by Assemblymember John Burton, the liberal San Francisco Democrat, who made a “strange bedfellows” alliance with conservative Orange County Assemblyman Gil Ferguson. About a decade ago, Democratic Senator Holly Mitchell and Republican Assemblyman David Hadley further worked to tighten civil asset forfeiture abuse.

“We are going to follow the state and federal laws, and everybody will have due process,” Gates promised. “There’s a way to be tough on crime without violating private property rights.”

Bonta’s latest statistical report on crime in California was released last July 1. From 2023 to 2024, it documented declines in homicides of 10.4%, violent crime 6% and property crime 8.4%.

“If you look at the national average, California remains the sixth most dangerous state in the nation,” Gates countered. Indeed, FBI crime stats for 2024 show California ranked sixth, with 486 violent crimes per 100,000 people, above the national average of 359.

As he worked in the Trump administration last year, I asked about the controversial ICE mass deportations in Los Angeles and Minneapolis. Gates argued sanctuary policies limit cooperation between local jails and ICE. Before these policies, he said, agents typically took custody of detainees directly “in the quiet, safe space of jails under the control of local authorities.” Now, ICE often is forced to make arrests in the community. Sanctuary supporters say their policies protect constitutional rights and local trust.

He pointed out how the system that “predated sanctuary policies” worked under President Barack Obama, a liberal Democrat. According to federal data, in 2012 ICE issued 276,181 detainers, with little controversy. But in 2025, according to then-Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s March 4 testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, 201,340 detainers were submitted nationwide, with 17,864 declined by sanctuary cities.

Gates opposed the sanctuary policies and said, “We need to get back to the peaceful enforcement of all laws.”

With the brutal Lungren years long in the past, voters might give a new Republican a try.

John Seiler is on the SCNG Editorial Board.

Orange County Register

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John Seiler: Michael Gates wants to unseat Rob Bonta. Can he do it?

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