Michael Gates, a Republican, is running for California Attorney General in the November 2026 general election against Democratic incumbent Rob Bonta, having advanced through the state’s top-two primary. Gates came to law after an earlier career in software development, later becoming a litigator and partner at an Orange County firm that frequently represented Orange County and its Sheriff’s Department, before serving as Huntington Beach’s elected City Attorney for ten years, from 2014 to 2024.
As city attorney, Gates became a leading local voice against Sacramento in disputes over “charter city” authority, most notably defending Huntington Beach’s voter-approved photo-ID requirement for city elections against a state lawsuit arguing it was preempted by state election law; a trial court initially dismissed the state’s case as not yet ready for review. Huntington Beach lost most of its other state-preemption fights during his tenure, including disputes over state housing-production mandates. In early 2025, Gates left Huntington Beach to become a deputy assistant attorney general in the U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, where he helped lead a 2025 lawsuit demanding unredacted voter records from the Orange County registrar, an effort voting-rights groups characterized as part of a broader, evidence-thin push around voter-roll fraud claims. He left the position after about ten months; a federal personnel record reportedly described his departure as “for cause,” which Gates disputes, calling the characterization “100% fabrication.”
Gates is campaigning on a law-and-order platform emphasizing local control, stricter enforcement of camping and loitering laws, and what he calls restoring election confidence, and has been endorsed by a group backing a statewide voter-ID ballot initiative.
