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Faced with a looming recall threat, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced yesterday that he has chosen Assemblymember Rob Bonta as California’s next attorney general, handing one of the state’s most powerful offices to a trusted political ally who will make history as the first Filipino American to hold the position.

Bonta, a Democrat from Alameda, developed a record as one of the Assembly’s most liberal Democrats during his eight years in the Legislature and had backing from prominent civil rights advocates as he sought the post often called the state’s “top cop.” His selection, which requires confirmation by the Legislature, will likely play well with progressives who are hoping to see the attorney general take a more active role in holding police accountable for misconduct — something former Attorney General Xavier Becerra was reluctant to do.

Becerra was confirmed last week as President Joe Biden’s health and human services secretary, handing Newsom the opportunity to fill what’s normally an elected office with his own pick. It’s the third such opportunity Newsom has had in recent months, as political dominoes fall following the 2020 election.

In December, Newsom appointed Alex Padilla to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Vice President Kamala Harris, and Shirley Weber to fill Padilla’s prior role as Secretary of State. With all three picks, Newsom diversified the highest ranks of California politics, choosing barrier-busting Democrats who make history as the first person of their ethnic group to hold the position. Padilla is the son of Mexican immigrants, Weber is the daughter of an Arkansas sharecropper and Bonta emigrated to California from the Philippines as a baby.

Newsom’s power to shape Democratic politics in the Golden State is an opportunity to build allies and unite Democrats as he works to beat back a likely recall election later this year. He faced pressure from numerous ethnic advocacy groups to pick an Asian American attorney general, both in recognition of California’s growing Asian American population and in response to a recent rise in hate crimes.

Selecting Bonta helps Newsom shore up support from his liberal base heading into the recall — prominent civil rights advocates, including Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza and attorney/CNN personality Van Jones, endorsed his candidacy.

But it could cause tensions in Newsom’s relationships with law enforcement. As a lawmaker, Bonta wrote bills that were friendly to the marijuana industry, gave more rights to immigrants in interactions with federal immigration agents and attempted to end the use of cash bail. After Newsom called for an end to California’s use of private prisons in his 2019 inaugural speech, Bonta wrote it up as a bill that Newsom signed into law.

Under a new law signed last year, Bonta also will be tasked with investigating all deadly police shootings of unarmed civilians — one reason civil rights advocates pressured Newsom to appoint someone who will take a more active role in rooting out misconduct.

Bonta is a Yale-educated lawyer who previously worked as a deputy city attorney in San Francisco. His wife, Mialisa Bonta, serves on the Alameda school board and is the head of Oakland Promise, a group that helps children get into college. Ethics attorneys have questioned Bonta’s pattern of raising money for groups that employ his wife. A CalMatters investigation found that he helped his wife’s nonprofits raise more than $560,000, largely by soliciting donations from companies that lobby the Legislature. He also asked interest groups to donate to a foundation he created, which in turn loaned $25,000 to his wife’s employer. The arrangement is legal but controversial.

Regulating charities is part of the attorney general’s portfolio of responsibilities, along with consumer protection, gambling and firearms regulation, internet privacy enforcement and criminal investigations.

Attorney general is widely seen as the second-most powerful office in state government, and has historically been a launching pad for higher office. Harris went from attorney general to U.S. senator, and Jerry Brown went from attorney general to his second stint as governor, cementing his position as California’s longest-serving governor.

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CALmatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.