When Michael Gates was Huntington Beach’s city attorney he spent a decade fighting the Democratic leadership in Sacramento.
Now Gates, a Republican, will be campaigning to become part of that state leadership group.
He is running for California state attorney general in 2026, he announced Wednesday morning at an event staged at Pier Plaza in Huntington Beach.
“We all know this — I don’t think the elites in Sacramento do — but we all know this, that California is broken. Now, more than ever, we need new leadership,” Gates told supporters.
Former Huntington Beach City Atty. Michael Gates on Wednesday announces his intention to run for state attorney general.
(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)
Gates was introduced by a group including former Fox News host and gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton, who launched his own bid for state office at the same spot at Pier Plaza last April. This week, Hilton announced former state Senate Majority Leader Gloria Romero as his running mate for lieutenant governor, and she also spoke on Gates’ behalf.
“We are developing a slate, because we’re going to need a bigger boat if we’re going to take on the special interests, the waste, the fraud, the abuse in Sacramento,” Romero said. “The person for that job is, of course, Michael Gates.”
Gates, 50, is expected to be vying for the job against current California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta, a Democrat. Bonta announced Sunday he would not be running for governor, and instead will seek to be reelected as the state’s chief legal officer.
Gates called the race a “perfect, poetic story” in a brief interview with the Daily Pilot following Wednesday’s launch event.
Political commentator and California governor candidate Steve Hilton makes comments as he introduces Michael Gates on Wednesday.
(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)
“I’ve been fighting Sacramento for 10 years, fighting [Bonta] for a number of years,” he said. “I have such a breadth of experience, in terms of having fought election laws, having fought for local control, having fought crime. Frankly, I think I’m the perfect candidate.”
Gates, also a staunch critic of Gov. Gavin Newsom, was involved with lawsuits with the state over voter identification, housing mandates and other issues during his tenure as Huntington Beach city attorney. He often invoked the city’s charter city status as giving it purview over local issues, though judges tended to disagree.
Reelected as city attorney in 2018 and 2022, Gates resigned in February 2025 to join the U.S. Dept. of Justice as a deputy district attorney in the civil rights division.
He returned to Huntington Beach in November to accept the assistant city attorney job, denying a source in an Orange County Register article that claimed he was fired from the federal DOJ position. A week later, Gates produced an email from the office of the assistant attorney general that stated his termination had been rescinded and removed, and that his voluntary resignation had been accepted.
Gates said Wednesday that he was no longer employed by the city of Huntington Beach, adding that he was focusing on the campaign and had some independent work lined up.
Former state Sen. Gloria Romero makes comments during an event announcing Michael Gates’ candidacy for state attorney general on Wednesday.
(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)
He said after rejoining the city government that he planned to run this year to reclaim his city attorney spot, now held by longtime assistant Mike Vigliotta. Instead, Gates set his eyes on Sacramento.
“I knew it was right to get in this race,” Gates told the Daily Pilot. “It’s the right time… It’s going to be a very, very competitive race for Atty. Gen. Bonta. To give it a football analogy, I like my side of the ball.”
Flanked by supporters including Huntington Beach Mayor Casey McKeon and other members of Surf City’s elected officials, as well as Orange County Board of Education President Mari Barke, Gates told the crowd Wednesday that he came from humble beginnings in a large Catholic family. He said he would often go with his mother and sisters to the local church food pantry.
“My parents taught us that life was difficult, and we’d have to fight,” Gates said.
Former Huntington Beach City Atty. Michael Gates, surrounded by supporters including Huntington Beach Mayor Casey McKeon, announced his candidacy for state attorney general on Wednesday.
(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)
Married for nearly 30 years to his wife, Kelly, Gates has five children and four grandchilden.
Huntington Beach resident Joyce Bizzaro was one of a few dozen at the relatively small-scale event to come out and support Gates Wednesday.
“If it doesn’t get changed, the way it’s been going, then California is doomed,” she said.