Even with the election for California’s next attorney general more than a year away, contenders have begun lining up in the race. Already at the starting line: newly appointed incumbent Attorney General Rob Bonta, who took over for Xavier Becerra on April 26 after Becerra resigned to become U.S. Health and Human Services secretary. Bonta has quickly asserted himself as a reform-minded progressive with the expansion of the Bureau of Environmental Justice and the establishment of a Racial Justice Bureau.
On the same day of Bonta’s appointment, Beverly Hills native Nathan Hochman announced his own candidacy. Hochman comes to the field with an extensive resume in both the public and private sectors. He worked as an assistant United States attorney for the Central District of California from 1990 to 1997. In 2008, he served as U.S. Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Justice’s Tax Division. Hochman, a Republican, has strong connections to law enforcement. He founded the non-profit Los Angeles Sheriff’s Foundation, which helps support the Sheriff’s Department through education and training. As a private defense attorney, Hochman represented former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, who was found guilty in 2017 of obstructing a federal investigation into jail abuses.
