California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta opts against running for governor. Again.

California Adv. Gen. Rob Bonta announced Sunday that he will not run for governor of California; That decision was based on his belief that his legal efforts as the state’s attorney general to combat the Trump administration were crucial at this moment in history.

“Watching this dystopian horror come to life reaffirmed something I have felt with every fiber of my being: this is my place right now, protecting Californians from the most brazen attacks on our rights and our families,” Bonta said in a statement. “My vision for the California Department of Justice is that we continue to be the nation’s largest and most powerful check on power.”

Bonta said President Trump’s blocking of welfare funds to California and the shooting death of a mother of three by a federal immigration agent in Minnesota last week solidified his decision to run for his current post, according to Politico, which first reported that Bonta would not run for governor.

Bonta, 53, a former state lawmaker and close political ally of Gov. Gavin Newsom, has served as the state’s top law enforcement official since Newsom appointed him to the post in 2021. In the past year, his office has sued the Trump administration more than 50 times — a track record that would likely have served him well had he decided to run in a state where Trump lost three times and has sky-high disapproval rates.

Bonta said he is considering running in 2024. He later announced in February that he was rejecting it and was instead focusing on his job as attorney general, which he considered particularly important under the Trump administration. Later, both former Vice President Kamala Harris and Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) announced they would not run for governor, and Bonta said she was starting to reconsider.

“I already had two horses in the governor’s race,” Bonta told The Times in November. “They ultimately decided not to get involved. … Racing is fundamentally different today, isn’t it?”

The race for governor of California is still ongoing. Newsom is serving the final year of his second term and is barred from running again due to term limits. Newsom has said he is considering running for president in 2028.

Former Rep. Katie Porter, who is leading the polls, floundered late last year after videos emerged of her yelling at an aide and berating a reporter. The videos contributed to him trailing Republican Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco in a poll released in November. Co-sponsored by the UC Berkeley Institute of Government Studies and The Times.

Porter recovered somewhat towards the end of the year. A survey by the Public Policy Institute of California showed that: However, none of the candidates gained majority support and most voters remained undecided.

California hasn’t elected a Republican governor since 2006, Democrats in the state far outnumber Republicans, and many people are seething with anger against Trump and looking for Democratic candidates willing to take on the current administration.

Bonta has faced questions in recent months about spending nearly $468,000 in campaign funds on legal advice last year while speaking to federal investigators about corruption allegations involving former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, who is accused in an alleged bribery scheme involving local businessmen David Trung Duong and Andy Hung Duong. All three pleaded not guilty.

Bonta, who had received campaign donations from the Duong family, was initially approached by investigators because he was considered a “potential victim” in the alleged scheme, but was later denied, according to political consultant Dan Newman. According to reports, Bonta returned $155,000 in campaign donations from the Duong family.

Bonta is the son of civil rights activist Warren Bonta, a white Californian, and Cynthia Bonta, a native of the Philippines who immigrated to the United States on a scholarship in 1965. Bonta, a U.S. citizen, was born in 1972 in Quezon City, Philippines, where his parents worked as missionaries there, and immigrated with his family to California as a baby.

In 2012, Bonta was elected to represent Oakland, Alameda and San Leandro, becoming the first Filipino American to serve in the California Legislature. He implemented a series of criminal justice reforms in Sacramento and set a record as one of the institution’s most liberal members.

Bonta is married to his successor in the state House, Assemblywoman Mia Bonta (D-Alameda), and the couple have three children.

Times writer Dakota Smith contributed to this report.