Ronald R. Gonzales (born 1951) is an American politician and member of the Democratic Party, who served as the 63rd Mayor of San Jose, California.

Incumbent Supervisor Tom Legan, who was on trial for but not convicted of molesting his underaged stepdaughter, polled 10.3% and Milpitas Mayor Robert Livengood made the runoff with 40%.

[citation needed] When he addressed the 2000 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, Mayor Gonzales launched into an impassioned speech extolling the virtues of California's famed "Silicon Valley.

[citation needed] As a single prominent Latino politician, he formed an easy target for dog whistle attacks tuned for a white voting constituency.

[citation needed] In 2000, a political spectacle was made out of Gonzales' personal life, which culminated in the politicized news of a separation from his wife and a relationship with a staffer, Guiselle Nunez, whom he married.

The issue revolved around a nine-percent, $11 million ($2000), increase for Norcal Waste Systems, Inc., that Gonzales advocated the San Jose City Council adopt.

With the above noted sanitation political fight ongoing and suffering a stroke in January, in March 2004, Gonzales announced he would stop collecting donations because of controversy about the fund.

Gonzales worked as Program Manager for ten years at Hewlett-Packard where he led a national initiative to create partnerships with local school districts and universities.

He also chairs the National League of Cities Youth, Education, and Families Council overseeing the League's policies related to the betterment of youth and families across the country [2], and was a founding board member of Downtown College Prep, Santa Clara County's first charter high school, which focuses on the academic success of high school students from the San Jose central city area.