![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776298271_IMG_d3290bde-6dc9-4dca-8_3_1_HMQ65AVG_L881932092.JPG\" "\\"A")
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A view of the Capitol Building in Sacramento, California.<\/p>\n
Brandon Bourdages<\/p>\n
Dreamstime\/TNS<\/p>\n
There are three candidates running to be the next Attorney General of California<\/a> but only one of them is qualified and fit for the job. McClatchy Media\u2019s California editorial board endorses Rob Bonta,<\/a> who is running for re-election to a position he has held since April 2021 when Bonta was appointed to replace Xavier Becerra by Gov. Gavin Newsom..<\/p>\n Becerra left the AG\u2019s job to be Secretary of Health and Human Services under President Joe Biden after suing President Donald Trump 125 times during Trump\u2019s first term. Bonta is well on his way to eclipsing that number in Trump\u2019s second term, having already filed more than 50 lawsuits against the Trump administration.<\/p>\n Time and again, the president has undermined state authority by sending federal troops to Los Angeles against the wishes of Newsom; ordering offshore oil operations off the coast of Santa Barbara and threatening to withhold federal funds because he disliked certain state policies.<\/p>\n Elected by California voters in 2022<\/a>, Bonta says court challenges have been highly effective; his office has recovered or protected $200 billion in federal funds Trump tried to withhold.<\/p>\n He also has a strong record of enforcing state housing regulations and renter protections, investigating reports of civil rights abuses and taking on antitrust cases. In 2024, Bonta and Newsom settled a state lawsuit against the city of Elk Grove for violating California\u2019s housing laws when the city denied a needed supportive housing project. We applauded Bonta at the time.<\/p>\n The settlement required Elk Grove to pay $150,000 in attorney fees<\/a> and identify new sites for affordable housing.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can\u2019t solve California\u2019s homelessness crisis without creating new housing and supportive services,\u201d Bonta said at the time. \u201cElk Grove is not immune to this challenge, and the city\u2019s decision to block these efforts \u2014 wasting valuable time and resources \u2014 is especially shameful.\u201d<\/p>\n Affordable housing units are too often and too easily killed at the local level by elected leaders and bureaucrats. If anything, we wish Bonta had been more aggressive with Elk Grove<\/a> and other cities because the need for affordable housing in California is dire.<\/p>\n In addition, Bonta was also among the attorneys general who won a jury verdict against Ticketmaster\/Live Nation for operating a monopoly that gouged customers. Bonta is also coordinating an antitrust review of the $110 billion merger between Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Skydance.<\/p>\n Politico recently reported that Bonta<\/a> has emerged as \u201ca key backstop against a transaction (some) worry could not only embolden Paramount \u2014 whose CEO David Ellison has cultivated ties with President Donald Trump \u2014 but also trigger sweeping staff reductions and accelerate the sort of media consolidation that harms consumers and creative talent alike.\u201d<\/p>\n In this race, Bonta\u2019s opponents are Republican Michael Gates and Marjorie Mikels, a self-described peace candidate representing the Green Party. Neither of Bonta\u2019s opponents is fit for office. Mikels isn\u2019t qualified and Gates\u2019 past work and positions on key issues, or lack therof, are outside the mainstream of California.<\/p>\n It didn\u2019t help that when we asked Gates about the economic concerns in Southern California over what the Paramount\/Warner Bros deal could do to Hollywood, Gates said he didn\u2019t know enough about the issue to comment.<\/p>\n Gates made a name for himself as the elected city attorney of Huntington Beach, where he challenged the state over housing mandates and a voter ID requirement the city tried to impose.<\/a> Bonta rightly sued Huntington Beach for its refusal to adopt a housing element that included affordable housing. Bonta also sued to stop Huntington Beach for requiring residents to show ID when voting in local elections.<\/p>\n The 4th District Court of Appeal<\/a> struck down the Huntington Beach Voter ID law, siding with Bonta. In February, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Huntington Beach\u2019s federal lawsuit c<\/a>hallenging the constitutionality of certain California housing laws.<\/p>\n We endorse Bonta because he is on the right side of housing and civil rights law and Gates was on the wrong side, the losing side.<\/p>\n BEHIND THE STORY MORE <\/a> What are editorials, and who writes them? <\/p>\n Editorials represent the collective views of the editorial boards of McClatchy Media\u2019s California opinion teams.<\/p>\n They do not reflect the individual opinions of board members or the views of reporters in the news sections of The Sacramento Bee and its sister publication, the San Luis Obispo Tribune. Reporters do not participate in editorial board deliberations or weigh in on board decisions.<\/p>\n In Sacramento, the board includes Executive Editor Chris Fusco, California Opinion Editor Marcos Breton, opinion writers Robin Epley, Tom Philp, LeBron Antonio Hill, Cathie Anderson and op-ed editor Hannah Holzer.<\/p>\n In San Luis Obispo, it includes Opinion Editor Stephanie Finucane.<\/p>\n We base our opinions on reporting by our colleagues in the news section, and our own reporting and interviews. Our members attend public meetings, call people and follow-up on story ideas from readers just as news reporters do.\u00a0<\/p>\n Read more by clicking the arrow in the upper right.<\/p>\n Tell us what you think <\/p>\n You may or may not agree with our perspective. We believe disagreement is healthy and necessary for a functioning democracy. If you would like to share your own views on events important to California, you may write a letter to the editor (150 words or less) using this form<\/a>, or email an op-ed (650-750 words) to opinion@sacbee.com<\/a>. Due to a high volume of submissions, we are not able to publish everything we receive.<\/p>\n Related Stories from Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A view of the Capitol Building in Sacramento, California. Brandon Bourdages Dreamstime\/TNS There are three candidates running to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":269885,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-285529","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-california","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-california-headlines","10":"tag-california-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=285529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285529\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/269885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}