In 2003, Gonzalez, running as a member of the Green Party, lost a race for mayor of San Francisco to Democrat Gavin Newsom.

His father, a division chief for the international tobacco company Brown & Williamson,[3] moved the family to New Orleans, Baltimore, and Louisville, Kentucky, before resettling in McAllen when Gonzalez was eleven years old.

[11][12] Gonzalez's critics considered him a stubborn and willful ideologue, though supporters noted his commitment to stand firm on principles over politicking.

Gonzalez said that supervisors should not issue commendations for winning partisan political positions and that he had written a personal note to Pelosi congratulating her, as she had done him for being elected board president.

At the last reception, graffiti artist Barry McGee spray-painted "Smash the State" on the walls of the office as part of his exhibit.

[23] On a ballot with nine candidates, Gonzalez finished second in the primary election on November 4 behind Gavin Newsom, a Democrat and fellow member of the Board of Supervisors who had been endorsed by Brown.

[26][27] Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Jesse Jackson, Dianne Feinstein, and Nancy Pelosi all campaigned for Newsom.

In May 2005 Gonzalez sought unsuccessfully to overturn the contract of San Francisco school Superintendent Arlene Ackerman.

It has also been involved in examining the New Year's Eve attack on the Yale a cappella group The Baker's Dozen in Pacific Heights.

[36] The change, he said, was to accommodate states, including Delaware, Idaho and Oregon, that did not allow members of political parties to run as independents.

On October 18, 2008 Gonzalez and Nader held a large protest on Wall Street following the passage of the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

[37] Their opposition to the bailout was a key issue of the Nader/Gonzalez campaign, in contrast to the Democratic and Republican Party candidates who supported the bill.

[1][2] In 2012, Gonzalez took a month-long unpaid leave of absence to act as co-counsel for a corporation in its $16 million lawsuit against San Francisco.

"[39][40] The case involved Cobra Solutions, a minority-owned business, that had been wrongfully suspended from being able to bid on city information technology contracts.