Meet Rob Bonta, Candidate For CA Attorney General: Election 2022

PROFESSIONAL PROFILE

Rob Bonta likes to say that a passion for social justice is hardcoded into his DNA. It’s a family story he’s repeated throughout his political career: His dad, a white man from California, marched with Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma. His mom protested the dictatorial Marcos regime in the Philippines before emigrating to the United States and fighting for civil rights and Filipino empowerment. For a spell, the entire family lived in a trailer in Keene organizing Central Valley farm workers alongside Cesar Chavez.

Ambitious and brainy, Bonta went to Yale, Oxford and then back to Yale to get his law degree. But politics was never far from his legal career path. After a few years in private practice, he joined the San Francisco city attorney’s office, where he worked on the office’s complex litigation team. But on the side he found time to moonlight as a campaign manager for a local politico and building his brand within the Bay Area Democratic Party. Bonta’s star ascended quickly; he has never lost an election. But as an appointee to the top job at the Department of Justice, he hasn’t won this one either. He’d like to change that.

EXPERIENCE

California Attorney General (appointed): 2021-2022

• Named by Gov. Gavin Newsom as the first Filipino-American to hold the office, replacing Xavier Becerra, who left to run the Biden administration’s Department of Health and Human Services.
• In response to a state law that he co-authored while in the Assembly, set up a new team within the Department of Justice to investigate local police officers when they kill unarmed civilians.
• Threatened cities including Woodside, Pasadena and Encinitas with legal action for attempting to circumvent a new zoning law allowing more housing construction.
• Sponsored legislation that would make gun sellers and manufacturers legally liable if they fail to implement “reasonable controls” to ensure that their products aren’t misused.

California Assemblymember: 2012-2021

• The first Filipino-American to join the state Legislature, Bonta served as one of the body’s most liberal members, authoring laws to ban privately run immigration detention facilities, make it easier for local school districts to deny charter school applications and put an end to cash bail — though that legislation was reversed by voters in 2020.
• Also introduced ambitious progressive proposals that went nowhere, such as a wealth tax on the super rich, a “California Green New Deal” and a right to housingunder the state constitution.
• Created a charitable foundation, funded by contributions from powerful California interest groups, which in turn provided funding to the nonprofit that was run by his wife, now Assemblymember Mia Bonta.

Alameda city councilmember: 2010-2012

• Represented the Bay Area island town, while also sitting on the city’s economic development commission and the Alameda County Transportation Commission.
• Announced his campaign to run for Assembly six months after joining the council.
• Faced a recall attempt after he voted to allow more apartment construction on the island, but won his Assembly bid before the campaign could gather steam.

REFERENCES

• Gov. Gavin Newsom
• Brady PAC
• California Teachers Association
• California Correctional Peace Officers Association

FUN FACT

• Bonta is a mean soccer player. As an undergraduate, he was the captain of the Yale varsity team and was named the school’s best male athlete as a senior. Fresh out of law school, he briefly played for San Francisco’s A-League soccer club, the Bay Seals.

Want to know where Bonta stands on some of the biggest questions facing California? Visit CalMatters for more on his views on hot-button issues, fundraising efforts, and online links.

CHECK OUT THE FULL CALMATTERS 2022 VOTER GUIDE HERE.