Eric Gonzalez

Eric Gonzalez is a Republican politician, and a former Senator of California. 
Gonzalez would begin his political career as a State Senator in California, before announcing his intent to run against the incumbent Democrat for the U.S. Senate in 2010. Gonzalez would win the election in what had been considered a safe Democratic seat in a stunning upset, becoming the first Republican elected in California since 1988, and the first to defeat an elected Democratic incumbent in the state since 1914. 
A populist and neoconservative, hawkish on foreign policy and aggressive against trade and illegal immigration, while more interventionist on economic issues, Gonzalez announce his intent to run for the Republican nomination for President in early 2017. 
After the Iowa primaries, Gonzalez would contest as a front-runner for the nomination alongside Matteos Egazarian and Calvin Reed. Gerald Drumpf, Governor of Georgia, would endorse Gonzalez after dropping out of the race. Gonzalez would direct most of his attacks at Egazarian in an increasing war of rhetoric between the two candidates, including a controversial statement by Gonzalez allegedly inciting violence against Egazarian supporters, and similar comments by Egazarian. 
Gonzalez would only win a single state, Alabama, on Super Tuesday, after having won the earlier Nevada primary, but would finish strongly enough in other states that he would place in a close second behind Egazarian and ahead of Reed in a three-way race. 
Gonzalez would reduce his campaigning after Super Tuesday, with his strategy continuing to focus on attacks on Egazarian over populist credentials, while Calvin Reed moved to take the delegate lead. Gonzalez would, in a controversial move, bypass campaigning in the southwestern states in which he was perceived to have an advantage in favor of an extensive campaign tour in Wisconsin, receiving negative media attention for several false statements presented in his rallies. Mathematically eliminated after the southwestern primaries, Gonzalez would lose Wisconsin after Governor Drumpf rescinded his endorsement, and campaigned with Reed in the state. 
Gonzalez, along with Senator Egazarian, refused to drop out after being mathematically eliminated, seeking a contested convention, but ultimately failing to prevent Reed from reaching the 1,237 delegates required. 
Running for re-election to Senate, Gonzalez, struggling in the polls, would drop out of the race in California's jungle primary, endorsing fellow Republican Johnathon Fox, who would narrowly defeat Anita Flores in the primary, but lose to Progressive Party candidate Reginaldo Alphonsey in the General Election.