Matt Gonzalez: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

Matt Gonzalez (born 1965) is the president of the San Francisco, California Board of Supervisors, and a member of the Green Party. He represents city District 5, which covers the Haight-Ashbury, Western Addition and a portion of the Inner Sunset neighborhoods.

Gonzalez lost the December 2003 San Francisco mayoral election to the Democratic Party candidate Gavin Newsom. The race drew significant media attention because if Gonzalez had won, he would have been the only mayor of a major U.S. city who is a member of the Green Party. The results of the election also received media attention, as Gonzalez finished with over 47 percent of the vote, an unusually high percentage for a third-party candidate. There was also considerable commentary that this was one of the few cases in an American election in which the Democratic candidate, Gavin Newsom, was the more conservative candidate.

Gonzalez announced in early 2004 that he would not run for re-election to his position on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors later that year. Over 30 candidates have filed to run for his seat in District 5, the first city election to use the IRV method of voting.