The Democratic incumbent led the former Huntington Beach city attorney 63.9% to 36.1% in preliminary returns, keeping him atop the state Justice Department for four more years.
Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat, won another four-year term Tuesday, defeating Republican Michael Gates, who spent a decade as Huntington Beach’s city attorney. The Associated Press called the race for Bonta at 8:28 p.m.
Bonta had 4,576,803 votes, or 63.9%, to Gates’ 2,590,398, or 36.1%, in the Secretary of State’s unofficial count as of 12:45 a.m. Wednesday. The results are preliminary and uncertified, with 20,301 of 23,860 precincts partially reporting and mail, provisional and other ballots still being processed.
The outcome leaves Bonta, who has sued the Trump administration or joined suits against it dozens of times, in charge of the California Department of Justice, which enforces state law and represents California in court.
By early Wednesday, neither Bonta nor Gates had posted a statement about the result on X or on his campaign website.
Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed Bonta in 2021 to replace Xavier Becerra, who left the post to become U.S. health secretary. Bonta was sworn in on April 23, 2021, becoming the first person of Filipino descent to hold the office, and voters elected him to a full term in 2022.
His campaign website said he was running “to protect our freedoms, defend our democracy, and stand up to abuse of power wherever it appears.” His reelection pitch also stressed gun violence prevention, consumer protection and reproductive rights.
After leaving the Huntington Beach post, Gates spent about 10 months in 2025 at the U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division under President Donald Trump. In his official voter guide statement, he promised to fully enforce Proposition 36, the voter-approved measure stiffening penalties for repeat theft and drug offenses, and wrote, “Public safety is not a partisan issue, and I will never treat it like one.”
Gates also campaigned on Huntington Beach’s lawsuit against Newsom over AB 1955, the 2024 law that bars schools from requiring staff to tell parents about a student’s gender identity without the student’s consent. “When I brought this case as Huntington Beach City Attorney, we did it because California parents have a fundamental right to know what is happening with their children at school,” Gates said in a campaign statement.
Counting will continue for weeks. Under Secretary of State guidance, mail ballots postmarked by Election Day still count if they reach county election offices within seven days, and local election offices get about a month to complete the official canvass, which includes audits and certification.
The Secretary of State’s office is scheduled to certify the statewide results by Dec. 11.
The state Constitution gives the attorney general the same term as the governor, so Bonta’s new term begins Jan. 4, 2027. That same day, Becerra, who held the attorney general’s office before Bonta, is set to take office as governor.
