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John McCann

John McCann
Mayor of Chula Vista
Incumbent
Assumed office December 13, 2022
Preceded by	Mary Salas
Member of the Chula Vista City Council
In office 2002–2010
In office 2014–2022
Personal details
Born	John McCann Chula Vista, California, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Residence(s)	Chula Vista, California
Education	San Diego State University (BEc & MEc)
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch/service	United States Navy
Rank	Commander

John McCann is an American politician, military officer, and businessman who has served as the Mayor of Chula Vista, California, since 2022. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served on the Chula Vista City Council from 2002 to 2010 and again from 2014 to 2022.

Early Life and Education

John McCann was born in Chula Vista, California. He was raised by a single mother, and graduated from Bonita Vista High School. He later attended San Diego State University, where he obtained his Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Economics.

Military Service

McCann joined the U.S. Navy as an enlisted member and was later commissioned as a Naval Officer. He was stationed in Mosul, Iraq during the War in Iraq, and currently serves as a Commander in the U.S. Navy.

Political career

McCann was first elected to the Chula Vista City Council in 2002, where he served until 2010. In 2014, he rejoined the City Council and served until 2022, when he was elected Mayor of Chula Vista in a close contest against Democratic candidate Ammar Campa-Najjar. (ref) (ref) (ref)

McCann's tenure as Mayor has been focused on improving public safety programs, including increasing the number of police officers, implementing greater police transparency measures, and improving police response with a GPS dispatch system. He has also been involved with initiatives aimed at decreasing traffic congestion, reducing tolls, refinancing city projects, and improving neighborhoods. A small business owner himself, McCann has lobbied for streamlining permitting processes for small businesses and for various other economic development projects, including the Chula Vista Bayfront Master Plan and the Millenia Master Plan Project.

Personal life

McCann and his wife, Mylissa, live in Chula Vista, where they are involved in raising their children and grandchild. (ref) They are the owners of two pet dogs. His community involvement earned him recognition as the San Diego County Local Elected Official of the Year in 2008. (ref)

Reference websites:

• https://www.chulavistaca.gov/departments/mayor-and-council/mayor
• https://voiceofsandiego.org/2022/11/11/republicans-won-big-races-in-small-cities-and-that-could-change-regional-transportation-and-development-plans/
• https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/mccanns-lead-widens-over-campa-najjar-in-race-for-chula-vista-mayor/3094481/
• https://www.10news.com/news/local-news/your-voice-your-vote/campa-najjar-mccann-face-off-in-chula-vista-mayoral-race-110822
• https://ballotpedia.org/John_McCann_(California)

References

"W. R. Clevenger" redirects here. For other uses, see W. R. Clevenger (disambiguation).

W. R. Clevenger

William Clevenger
Born	William Russell Clevenger (1954-07-03) July 3, 1954 Indiana, U.S.
Pen name	W. R. Clevenger
Occupation	Author
Language	English
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Brigham Young University (BS & MSc)
Period	2022–present
Genre	Science fiction
Children	3, including Joseph Clevenger
Website
Official Website

William Russell Clevenger (/klɛvɛndʒər/; born July 3, 1954), also known by his pen name, W. R. Clevenger, is an American genetic engineer, piano technician, and author who writes science fiction.

Writing career

Clevenger published Virion, a science fiction thriller and his first solo novel, in 2022.

Personal life

William Clevenger is a retired genetic engineer. He lives in Murrieta, California, having previously lived in Eugene, Oregon.

Published works

• Clevenger, W. R. (December 21, 2022). Virion. Bowker Identifier Services. ISBN 979-8-987-44270-8.

References

"Jay Javernick" redirects here. For other uses, see Jay Javernick (disambiguation).

Jay Clevenger

Jay Clevenger
Clevenger in 2022
Born	Jayden Aaron Clevenger (2004-11-16) November 16, 2004 California, U.S.
Pen name	Jay Javernick
Occupation	Author, Activist
Education	Mira Costa College (AA) San Diego State University
Period	2023–present
Genre	Political Thriller, Dystopian fiction
Notable works	La Perfidia (book)
Parents	Joseph Clevenger
Website
[about.me/jayclevenger]

Jayden Aaron Clevenger (/klɛvɛndʒər/; born November 16, 2004) is an American author and political organizer. He is the author of several The New York Times Best Seller list fiction and nonfiction books, some of which are published under the pen name Jay Javernick. He is currently running for District 2 on the San Diego City Council in the 2026 election.

Early life and education

Clevenger was born on November 16, 2004, in Murrieta, California, the first of four children born to Jillian Clevenger (née Smith) and Joseph Clevenger. His father is of English and Swedish descent, and is a teacher, school administrator, and politician. His mother has English, French, Swiss German, and West African ancestry, and is a homemaker and small business owner who became a schoolteacher a few years after Clevenger graduated from high school. Both are the descendants of Mormon pioneers who settled in Utah in the 1840s.

Clevenger spent most of his childhood in Murrieta, California. As a young boy, Clevenger took piano lessons, drew maps, wrote short stories, and played volleyball and baseball. He was active in the faith of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. After his parents divorced in 2014, Clevenger struggled with depression and his sexuality. His father and mother remarried in 2015 and 2016, respectively, expanding his family from four children to nine (including two new half-siblings and three step-siblings) by 2018.

During his first two years of high school at Vista Murrieta High School, he was active in the school's AFJROTC program as well as the jazz and concert bands on campus. At the onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic, Clevenger's family relocated to Atascadero, California, where they reunited with his stepfather, who was, at the time, stationed at Camp San Luis Obispo on state active duty orders with the California National Guard. Clevenger attended Atascadero High School, where he ran cross-country and track and field, served as President of Model United Nations for his final two years of high school, and participated in a book group that studied the U.S. Constitution and various conservative political ideologies, including originalism, founderism, and limited government. It was during this time that Clevenger began to define himself as a social liberal and a fiscal conservative. He often debated and butted heads with the other members of the group who were social conservatives. He attended early-morning seminary for all four years of high school.

After graduating from Atascadero High School in June 2022, Clevenger studied Mandarin Chinese at National Tsing Hua University in Hsinchu, Taiwan through the National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y), becoming fluent in the language. After briefly attending Cuesta College, he moved to Vista, California, where he enrolled at Mira Costa College and is currently pursuing a degree in history.

Writing career

Although Clevenger began writing long fiction in middle and high school, it was not until college that he adopted the pen name Jay Javernick and published his first novel Venganza in June 2023, although he had begun several other works, including Esmer, A Maldivian Tale, Perfidia, Beside the Mountain, and Senator Price well beforehand. Javernick plans to publish Beside the Mountain and Perfidia in July and October 2023, respectively.

Venganza

Originally inspired by an argument that he had with his sister one day while driving the car, Javernick began writing Venganza during his senior year of high school around the time he turned 17 (November 2021). The book follows Tony Brandt, a 16-year-old junior in high school in the aftermath of his sister Maya's intentional opioid overdose as he grapples with her death, drug abuse, social withdrawal, and revenge against those who he believed were responsible for her death, based on accounts from Maya's personal journal. The crime-thriller drama explores the theme of young love, losing loved ones to suicide, existential nihilism, depression, drug abuse, betrayal, and revenge.

Javernick plans to publish Venganza in June 2023.

Beside the Mountain

Javernick came up with the idea for Beside the Mountain in March 2023 after reading an article about the Supreme Leader of North Korea Kim Jong-un and his sister Kim Yo-jong's formative years spent under aliases at a school in Switzerland in the early 1990s.

Beside the Mountain follows the story of 16-year-old Kim Han-cheol, the heir apparent to become Supreme Leader of North Korea, during his studies at a private English-speaking boarding school in Geneva, Switzerland under the alias Henry Kwon. After transferring halfway through the school year with the intention of better understanding Western culture, improving his English, and making important connections with the future leaders of Europe, Henry struggles to make friends due to language barriers and discrimination against him because of his nationality. Fortunately for Henry, his English teacher seats him next to an outgoing, friendly, smart, and handsome Flemish boy named Jordan, the son of a prominent Belgian politician, with whom Henry becomes fast friends and learns much about Western culture. After several months, Henry finds himself in a crisis as he begins to question his political views, reevaluate his morals, explore his sexuality, and learn to swim despite a devastating fear of water, all while his iron-fisted mother back home in Pyongyang expects him to prepare to lead and make her proud. This coming-of-age drama delves into the themes of chauvanism, belief perseverance, free will, young love, xenophobia, and anxiety over high parental expectations.

Javernick plans to publish Beside the Mountain in July 2023.

Perfidia

Clevenger originally began writing Perfidia (Spanish for perfidy, or betrayal) under the name Paisarchy (Greek pais, meaning children, and archy, meaning the reign of; Paisarchy, reign of the children) in its earliest forms sometime in 2019. From 2019 to 2023, he produced more than 3000 pages of stories, dialogues, interviews, backstories, biographies, geopolitical maps, electoral histories, organization structures, character psychology analyses, and various other passages about the post-apocalyptic world in which Perfidia takes place. After undergoing many changes, rewrites, and extensive editing, Clevenger plans to publish Perfidia in October 2023.

Perfidia follows the husband of an iron-fisted tyrant after a chance encounter with a group of rebels opens his eyes to the brutal truth of his wife's oppressive rule over the country. As he becomes entangled in a web of devotion, danger, and deceit, he finds himself in danger as his wife cracks down on a growing revolution, a movement that relies on him as one of their most critical allies. The book explores the themes of loyalty, hypocrisy, freedom versus security, corporate Marxism, and political fundamentalism.

Political career

During college, Clevenger interned for the district offices of Congressman Scott Peters and Congresswoman Sara Jacobs, as well as the Human Rights Campaign and the San Diego City Council. He was a district delegate for California's 49th congressional district to the 2024 Democratic National Convention held in Chicago, Illinois, where he committed to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for the Democratic nomination. The Biden-Harris ticket went on to win in the 2024 presidential election.

In October 2025, Clevenger announced his candidacy for District 2 on the San Diego City Council, aiming to fill the seat held by term-limited incumbent Dr. Jennifer Campbell. During the campaign, he has advocated a "total war" strategy to close the housing gap in San Diego, as well as increased investment into city roads, flooding infrastructure, electric vehicle charging stations, public transit and hydrogen fuel stations. He was endorsed by Run for Something, the LGBTQ Victory Fund, and various unions throughout San Diego.

Electoral history

San Diego City Council

}}

2026 San Diego City Council District 2 election

Primary election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Unknown Politician 1	0	0.00
	Democratic	Jay Clevenger	0	0.00
	Democratic	Unknown Politician 2	0	0.00
	Democratic	Unknown Politician 3	0	0.00
	Nonpartisan	Unknown Politician 4	0	0.00
	Democratic	Unknown Politician 5	0	0.00
	Nonpartisan	Unknown Politician 6	0	0.00
Total votes			0.00	100%
General election
	Democratic	Jay Clevenger	0	0.00
	Republican	Candidate Name	0.00	0.00
Total votes			51,398	100%

Political views

Clevenger has described himself as a "social liberal" and a "pragmatic progressive." He has been described by observers as center-left, pro-labor, and a social libertarian.

LGBT Rights

Clevenger is openly gay and supports marriage equality.

Personal life

Clevenger has lived in San Diego, California, with his partner, Brandt, since 2023. Clevenger was born into and raised in the faith of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, but is no longer religious, preferring to label himself as a humanist. His father, Joseph Clevenger, is the Superintendent of Bonsall Unified School District and the President of the Bonsall Rotary Club. Clevenger is fluent in Spanish and Mandarin Chinese.

Published works

• Javernick, Jay (November 5, 2023). La Perfidia. San Diego, CA: Kindle Direct Publishing. p. 300.
• Javernick, Jay (November 5, 2023). La Perfidia. San Diego, CA: Kindle Direct Publishing. p. 300.
• Javernick, Jay (November 5, 2023). La Perfidia. San Diego, CA: Kindle Direct Publishing. p. 300.
• Javernick, Jay (November 5, 2023). La Perfidia. San Diego, CA: Kindle Direct Publishing. p. 300.

General Pikes

Carol Reagan Pikes (born July 4, 2001) is a Californian military officer, physician, writer, revolutionary, and politician who founded and has served as the Chair of the California People's Liberation Front (CPLF) and Commanding General of the California People's Liberation Army (CPLA), and thus as the paramount leader of California, since 2023.

A veteran of the War in Afghanistan, Pikes survived the Global Collapse of 2022-2023 by joining a small militia of survivors in Wasco, California known as the Scarlet Desert Militia, the predecessor to the CPLA. After a decade spent solidifying water and food security for the communities under Kern River Valley, as well as building up energy, healthcare, and mining infrastructure, communities under their protection, Pikes oversaw a vast rearmament and expansion of the military and a re-industrialization of the regions under her control. She led a series of campaigns starting in 2033 from the "heartland" (Wasco/Bakersfield/Porterville) to reunite California, bringing all of the former state, as well as Tijuana, Las Vegas, Carson City, and the west coast of Oregon under Californian control by the year 2053.

Meanwhile, in the regions under her control, Pikes focused on sociocultural and economic development as the primary means to reconstruct what she viewed as an ideal socially progressive, technologically advanced, and culturally diverse society. By the fortieth anniversary of the founding of the CPLF in 2063, over 6 million Californian citizens had climbed out of poverty and the population of the areas now under its control had grown from a measly 500,000 in 2033 to over 8 million by 2063.

Jay Clevenger

Jay Clevenger
Clevenger in 2022
Born	Jayden Aaron Clevenger (2004-11-16) November 16, 2004 California, U.S.
Pen name	Jay Javernick
Occupation	Author, Activist
Education	Mira Costa College (AA) San Diego State University
Period	2023–present
Genre	Political Thriller, Dystopian fiction
Notable works	La Perfidia (book)
Parents	Joseph Clevenger

Jayden Aaron Clevenger (/klɛvɛndʒər/; born November 16, 2004) is an American author, activist, and politician who has served as a member of the San Diego City Council from the 2nd district since 2026. He is the author of several New York Times-bestselling fiction and nonfiction books, some of which are published under the pen name Jay Javernick.

Jayden Aaron Clevenger (/klɛvɛndʒər/; born November 16, 2004) is an American author and activist. He is the author of several New York Times-bestselling fiction and nonfiction books, some of which are published under the pen name Jay Javernick. He is currently a candidate in the 2026 election for District 2 on the San Diego City Council.

Early life and education

Clevenger was born and raised in southern California. He spent much of his childhood playing the piano, drawing maps, reading, writing, and studying foreign languages, especially Chinese. His parents divorced when he was 9, which had a profound effect on his mental health, later struggling with depression and questions about his sexuality as a teenager.

During the COVID-19 Pandemic, his family moved to central California, where he attended and graduated from Atascadero High School in June 2022. After graduation, Clevenger studied Mandarin Chinese at National Tsing Hua University in Hsinchu, Taiwan through the U.S. Department of State's National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y), becoming fluent in the language. After briefly attending Cuesta College, he moved to San Diego County, where he enrolled at Mira Costa College, obtaining his Associate of Arts in Political Science. He is currently pursuing a four-year degree at San Diego State University.

Political career

During college, Clevenger interned for the district offices of Congressman Scott Peters and Congresswoman Sara Jacobs, as well as the Human Rights Campaign and the San Diego City Council. He was a district delegate for California's 49th congressional district to the 2024 Democratic National Convention held in Chicago, Illinois, where he committed to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for the Democratic nomination. The Biden-Harris ticket went on to win in the 2024 presidential election.

In October 2025, Clevenger announced his candidacy for District 2 on the San Diego City Council, aiming to fill the seat held by term-limited incumbent Dr. Jennifer Campbell. During the campaign, he has advocated a "total war" strategy to close the housing gap in San Diego, as well as increased investment into city roads, flooding infrastructure, electric vehicle charging stations, public transit and hydrogen fuel stations. He was endorsed by Run for Something, the LGBTQ Victory Fund, and various unions throughout San Diego.

Electoral history

San Diego City Council

}}

2026 San Diego City Council District 2 election

Primary election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Unknown Politician 1	0	0.00
	Democratic	Jay Clevenger	0	0.00
	Democratic	Unknown Politician 2	0	0.00
	Democratic	Unknown Politician 3	0	0.00
	Nonpartisan	Unknown Politician 4	0	0.00
	Democratic	Unknown Politician 5	0	0.00
	Nonpartisan	Unknown Politician 6	0	0.00
Total votes			0.00	100%
General election
	Democratic	Jay Clevenger	0	0.00
	Republican	Candidate Name	0.00	0.00
Total votes			51,398	100%

Writing career

Although Clevenger began writing long fiction in middle and high school, it was not until college that he adopted the pen name Jay Javernick and published his first novel, La Perfidia, in December 2023, aged 19. Javernick has plans to publish several more novels in the next few years.

La Perfidia

Clevenger originally began writing La Perfidia (Spanish for perfidy, or betrayal) under the name Paisarchy (Greek pais, meaning children, and archy, meaning the reign of; Paisarchy, reign of the children) in its earliest forms sometime in 2019. From 2019 to 2023, he produced more than 3000 pages of stories, dialogues, interviews, backstories, biographies, geopolitical maps, electoral histories, organization structures, character psychology analyses, and various other passages about the post-apocalyptic world in which La Perfidia takes place. After undergoing many changes, rewrites, and extensive editing, Clevenger completed his final draft for the novel in November 2023, had it reviewed and edited, and published it in December 2023.

La Perfidia follows the husband of an iron-fisted tyrant after a chance encounter with a group of rebels opens his eyes to the brutal truth of his wife's oppressive rule over the country. As he becomes entangled in a web of devotion, danger, and deceit, he finds himself in danger as his wife cracks down on a growing revolution, a movement that relies on him as one of their most critical allies. The book explores the themes of loyalty, hypocrisy, freedom versus security, corporate Marxism, and political fundamentalism.

Personal life

Clevenger has lived in San Diego, California, with his partner, Brandt, since 2023. Clevenger was born into and raised in the faith of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, but is no longer religious, preferring to label himself as a humanist. His father, Joseph Clevenger, is the Superintendent of Bonsall Unified School District and the President of the Bonsall Rotary Club. Clevenger is fluent in Spanish and Mandarin Chinese.

Published works

• Javernick, Jay (November 5, 2023). La Perfidia. San Diego, CA: Kindle Direct Publishing. p. 300.
• Javernick, Jay (November 5, 2023). La Perfidia. San Diego, CA: Kindle Direct Publishing. p. 300.
• Javernick, Jay (November 5, 2023). La Perfidia. San Diego, CA: Kindle Direct Publishing. p. 300.
• Javernick, Jay (November 5, 2023). La Perfidia. San Diego, CA: Kindle Direct Publishing. p. 300.

Sean Evans

Sean Michael Evans Holness is a Costa Rican American artist, designer, and student who is currently studying at North Carolina State University.

Sean Evans
Born	Sean Michael Evans Holness (2004-03-26)26 March 2004 Limón, Costa Rica
Years active	2022-Present
Known for	Drawing, sketching
Notable work	La Vie (1903) Family of Saltimbanques (1905) Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907) Portrait of Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler (1910) Girl before a Mirror (1932) Le Rêve (1932) Guernica (1937) The Weeping Woman (1937) Massacre in Korea (1951)
Movement	Realism

Joseph Clevenger
Clevenger in 2019
Superintendent of Bonsall Unified School District
Incumbent
Assumed office July 1, 2021
Preceded by	David Jones
Personal details
Born	Joseph Aaron Clevenger (1980-04-22) April 22, 1980 Provo, Utah, U.S.
Spouse	Kim Clevenger
Children	8
Residence(s)	Temecula, California, U.S.
Education	California State University San Marcos (BLA) Pepperdine University (MEd)
Occupation	Educator, Superintendent

Joseph Aaron Clevenger (/klɛvɛndʒər/; born April 22, 1980) is an American educator who has served as the superintendent of Bonsall Unified School District since July 1, 2021. Prior to his tenure as superintendent, he served as the Principal of Rancho Buena Vista High School from 2019 to 2021.

Early Life and Education

Clevenger was born on April 22, 1980, in Provo, Utah, the son of a molecular biologist and a high school physics teacher. He grew up in Seattle, Washington, before moving to Vista, California, where he attended Rancho Buena Vista High School. After graduating, Clevenger served as a full-time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, where he became fluent in Spanish.

Clevenger attended California State University San Marcos, where he earned a bachelor's degree in liberal arts in 2004. He attended Pepperdine University from 2008 to 2010, receiving a master's degree in education.

Career

Clevenger began his career in Riverside County, working as a teacher and administrator for Santa Rosa Academy and Elsinore Unified School District before transferring south to San Diego County, where he served as the principal of Normal L. Sullivan Middle School in 2015. As principal of Sullivan Middle School, he was responsible for increasing access to STEM programs on campus and academic outreach support for low-income students, especially indigenous students from the Pala Indian Reservation. After the Lilac fire of 2017 devastated much of Bonsall and the neighboring community, Clevenger was instrumental in leading the cleanup and response that followed, both in the community and at the school, and was recognized by local leaders and afflicted families for his disaster relief efforts.

In 2019, Clevenger was hired as the principal of Rancho Buena Vista High School, where he had graduated as a student some 20 years beforehand. He was critical in leading the school's response to the COVID-19 Pandemic, and often shared his experience in forums for public educators about his student-focused approach to getting back to the "new normal."

In June 2021, it was announced that Clevenger would return to Bonsall, this time to serve as superintendent. His work as superintendent has included traffic upgrades for schools, speaking at statewide events about his experiences succeeding during the pandemic, and lobbying for the construction of new schools in the district, including a new campus for Bonsall High School and a new elementary school in northern Bonsall. In March 2023, the California Department of Education recognized 59 schools across the entire state of more than 10,000 schools for the Purple Star award, given for a school's excellence in serving the children of military families and veterans. All five of the schools in Bonsall Unified School District were recipients, an unprecedented occasion that prompted an award ceremony at Bonsall West Elementary School featuring Lieutenant General George W. Smith Jr., Commanding General I Marine Expeditionary Force, and a number of prominent military and community leaders.

In 2023, Clevenger debuted the Bonsall Forward Initiative, a scholarship fund aimed at addressing the disparity in female and underrepresented populations in STEM academics in careers by better funding classrooms and by awarding scholarship money to students as early as 6th grade.

Personal life

Joseph Clevenger has lived in Southern California for over 30 years. He currently lives in Temecula, California, with his wife Kim and their 8 children. He is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Clevenger enjoys surfing, gardening, and traveling with his family.

Clevenger currently serves as President of the Rotary Club of Bonsall.

See also

• Bonsall Unified School District
• Lilac Fire

External links

• Joseph Clevenger - Twitter
• Joseph Clevenger - Instagram
• Joseph Clevenger - Facebook

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La Perfidia

La Perfidia is a dystopian novel set in the 2070s Grand California, 50 years after a pandemic-induced collapse of society. The story follows Bruno Alvarez, an English professor and the husband of an iron-fisted revolutionary tyrant, after a series of unusual deaths lead to his exposure to a group of underground revolutionaries who open his eyes to the brutality and violence of his wife's past and her oppressive reign over the country. As he becomes entangled in an ideologically diverse and rapidly radicalizing movement, he finds himself and his daughter, Sofia, in danger as his wife and her inner circle crack down on the growing revolution, one which relies on him as one of their most critical allies. The book explores the themes of loyalty, hypocrisy, propaganda, cult of personality, freedom versus security, nationalism, corporate-level socialism, and political fundamentalism.

Governor General Margarita Magaña

Margarita Magaña
1st Governor General of California
Incumbent
Assumed office November 9, 2023
Preceded by	Office Established
1st Chair of the New Dawn Party
Incumbent
Assumed office September 21, 2025
Preceded by	Office Established
Personal details
Born	Margarita Magaña-Morales (2001-07-04) July 4, 2001 Shafter, California, U.S.
Political party	New Dawn Party
Spouse	Bruno Alvarez
Children	Sofia Magaña-Alvarez
Residence(s)	El Dorado, California

Margarita Magaña-Morales de Alvarez (born July 4, 2001) is a Californian military officer, war strategist, author, philosopher, revolutionary, and stateswoman who, as Chair of the New Dawn Movement and Governor General of the California Republic, has served as the paramount leader of Gran California since its establishment in 2023.

A veteran of the War in Afghanistan, Magaña survived the Global Collapse of 2022-2023 by joining a small militia of survivors in Lost Hills, California known as the Desert Hawks, the early predecessor to the California Security Forces. After decades spent consolidating power through the control and revitalization of communities across the Kern River Valley, including through extensive irrigation, agriculture, energy, healthcare, and rail infrastructure programs, Pikes oversaw a vast rearmament and expansion of the military and a re-industrialization of the regions under her control. She led a series of military campaigns starting in the early 2030s from the "heartland" (Grand Valley/Bakersfield) to reunite California, bringing all of the former state, as well as the Baja California peninsula, Las Vegas, Carson City, and the west coast of Oregon under Californian control by the late 2050s. By the 50th anniversary the founding of the nation, millions of Californians had been lifted out of poverty and the population of the country had grown from a meager 60,000 in the late 2020s to over 3.5 million in 2073.

Often described as a populist, pan-Californian nationalist, and fundamentalist by political and academic observers, Magaña's tenure has been characterized by an emphasis on law and order, industrialization, militarism, and socioeconomic progress through public education, with a particular focus on civic education and political indoctrination starting as early as kindergarten. Internationally, Magaña is notable for her colonization efforts in Latin America in order to gain access to sugar, coffee, opioid painkillers, and other tropical resources, as well as her alliances with fellow iron-fisted leaders, most notably the fellow rags-to-riches militarist and authoritarian General Eduardo Nuño of New Texas.

Widely considered to be one of the most powerful leaders in the world, Magaña is the subject of a pervasive personality cult within the New Dawn movement, which reveres her as a champion of the common man, a visionary leader who restored stability and peace to California, and a "shining example" for future generations as a self-made success story of extraordinary intelligence, discipline, grit, and perseverance. Critics of Magaña have highlighted her military record of war crimes, massacres, ecocide, and human rights abuses, as well as her domestic record of suppressing civil liberties such as freedom of the press and the use of a violent secret police to intimidate, discredit, jail, or outrightly murder her political opponents.

Role in the Story

In the book, Magaña is a major source of cognitive dissonance and anxiety for her husband, Bruno, who struggles to balance his loyalty to, devotion toward, and love for his wife with his knowledge of her continuing crimes against humanity, including the defamation, imprisonment, torture, brainwashing, and murder of innocent people. Their relationship, thought to be built on trust, honesty, and vulnerability, begins to fall apart as Bruno withdraws, feeling both betrayed by her "web of lies" and her hateful, violent actions towards countless numbers of innocent people. This results in addition conflict between the two, spilling into their professional lives, adversely affecting their relationships with their daughter, grandchildren, and colleagues.

Bruno Alvarez

Bruno Alvarez
Personal details
Born	Bruno Alvarez (2001-07-04) July 4, 2001 San Bernardino, California, U.S.
Political party	Nonpartisan
Spouse	Margarita Magaña
Children	Sofia Magaña-Alvarez
Residence(s)	El Dorado, California
Occupation	Professor

Bruno Alvarez (born August 18, 2001) is a Californian educator, author, and academic who, as the husband of Governor General Margarita Magaña, has served as the First Gentleman of Grand California since 2023. A professor at Grand Valley University in El Dorado, California since its opening in 2047, he teaches English and Spanish literature. Despite his wife's ubiquitous prominence in Californian life, he is uninvolved in politics, preferring to live a low-profile, private lifestyle. Thus, when his involvement in an underground movement to make radical reforms to the government is discovered by federal investigators, many within his personal circle are surprised and shocked.

Gonzo

Col. Gonzo
16th Deputy Commander, Special Operations
Incumbent
Assumed office 2059
3rd Commanding Officer, Lightning Strike Crew
Incumbent
Assumed office 2036
Preceded by	Office Established
Personal details
Born	Alejandro Gonzalez (2012-09-11) September 11, 2012 Porterville, California, U.S.
Political party	New Dawn Party
Residences	Mammoth Lakes, California Lake Isabella, California Porterville, California Tijuana, California

Alejandro Gonzalez (born September 11, 2012) is a Californian special operations veteran, spy, and diplomat who, after serving as the Californian Ambassador to New Texas for several years, was secretly appointed to serve as the head of the Californian Secret Police in 2073. After enlisting in the Californian Security Forces at age 16 and joining the Californian Special Operations at age 17, he rose rapidly through the ranks and achieved the rank of Lieutenant Colonel by age 25. A close ally of Governor-General Magaña and decorated for his success in combat, espionage, and special warfare, he was instrumental in transforming the Californian Special Operations into a highly effective multi-role strike force. After several decades serving in the military, he was appointed to serve as the Californian Ambassador to New Texas and Special Envoy to the Nations of Eastern America, where he served as a public-facing diplomat while continuing to covertly coordinate Californian intelligence operations in the region for several years. Upon returning to California, he was secretly appointed to serve as the head of Magaña's secret police force.

Orphaned in his native Porterville, California after the Global Collapse of 2022-2023 at the age of 10, Gonzo fled to Sierra Nevadas with a group of boys in order to find refuge from the heat and scarcity of resources in the desert. Leading a highly nomadic lifestyle heavily reliant on river water and hunting, they eventually settled in the area formerly known as the Sequoia National Park, where they fought with other groups of locals and migrant survivors over scarce resources, especially during the snowy winters. After several years of struggling to survive, he and the community of about twenty other boys suffered heavy casualties after a raid conducted by a group of older locals with firearms resulted in a fire breaking out and the deaths of dozens on both sides. Ultimately, Gonzo was one of only two survivors, the other soon dying of pneumonia that winter, when Gonzo was only 14. These experiences shaped his pessimistic worldview that the chaos and anarchy of the present day would only continue until a large, "ruthless" force or army conquered the region and instituted a system of law, order, and stability. As a young teenager surviving in the bleak landscape of the rural Sierras, he assumed that the mountains would never see such a "stabilizing" force for decades, if not centuries, due to their remoteness and lack of unique resources.

After several more years as a hunter-nomad, he came across a small community near the town of Three Rivers, California, where a community member took him into their care, fed, and employed him on their farm, later recalling that "He looked thin enough that he might just fall over and die. He was so skinny, you could probably break him like twig. I couldn't just watch him wander through town, the poor kid was practically a skeleton. So I nursed him back to health and offered him work on our farm, to which he was so very grateful." After gaining some weight from eating a farmer diet every day rather than a hunter diet every other day, he began to integrate into the community, and soon learned of a group of conquerors to the west of the community in the Central Valley led by a powerful military commander called Magaña. Several months after gaining as much information as he could, mostly from gossiping community members and stories from merchants, he set out for Visalia, where he had heard rumors of the conquerors subduing and then rebuilding and modernizing the city and its surrounding towns.

On his way to Visalia, he was approached and questioned by several Californian soldiers on patrol; he told them he was a nomadic hunter with no home, and that he wanted to know more about and "join the mighty Magaña in his quest to conquer and rebuild a society of order." He was taken by the soldiers back to the barracks in the city, where he learned all about the New Dawn of California and got to meet Magaña face-to-face, a moment which surprised him because he had assumed the commander of such a group was a man and not a woman. Within a week, he had enlisted in the Californian Army, and underwent training in Wasco, California, before serving for a year and a half in various regular infantry roles before being transferred to Special Operations age 17, where he was able to put his skills in espionage, intelligence collection, reconnaissance (especially in forested and mountainous settings), and special warfare to better use.

Diego Cortés

Diego Cortés (born December 2, 2027), famously known as Captain Cortés, is a Californian explorer, navigator, naturalist, polyglot, naval officer, and cartographer who is credited with being the leading the first post-Collapse Californian expeditions to South America, Asia, Oceania, Africa, Europe, and Antarctica from 2043 to 2073. His expeditions were the subject of widespread media coverage and were credited with opening the way for widespread Californian exploration and the Californian colonization of Colombia, the Galapagos Islands, and the Panama Canal.

Born to mixed race parents in Fresno, California, Cortés' family moved to the Kern River Valley when he was 4 years old in order to find work as farmhands in the then-fledging People's Republic of California. He attended the California Military Academy for Youth in Wasco, where he developed a love for geography, cartography, engineering, and natural history. He later attended the newly-established Naval Technical School in Morro Bay, where he caught the attention of Admiral Taylor Wang, who removed him from school due to his extensive knowledge and appointed him to Lieutenant (O3) as the deputy commander of a famous-class cutter in order to test his seaworthiness. By the time that his old classmates in Morro Bay graduated three and a half years later in 2047, Cortés had been promoted to Captain (O6) and had gained national fame for commanding the first Californian naval expeditions to Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, and Colombia.

After re-establishing contact with Central and South America, Cortés spent several years traveling back and forth between California and Colombia, helping to establish an outpost in the Pacific-facing port of Buenaventura, which allowed for the export of coffee, sugarcane, and other spices from Colombia back to California. While in Colombia, Cortés co-founded the California Coffee Company in 2047, holding a five percent share in the company until Magaña asked him to sell it in 2057 in order to avoid allegations of corruption and self-enrichment by high-ranking military officials overseas.

While stationed primarily out of Buenaventura

Largely self-educated, Columbus was knowledgeable in geography, astronomy, and history. He developed a plan to seek a western sea passage to the East Indies, hoping to profit from the lucrative spice trade. After the Granada War, and Columbus's persistent lobbying in multiple kingdoms, the Catholic Monarchs, Queen Isabella I and King Ferdinand II, agreed to sponsor a journey west. Columbus left Castile in August 1492 with three ships and made landfall in the Americas on 12 October, ending the period of human habitation in the Americas now referred to as the pre-Columbian era. His landing place was an island in the Bahamas, known by its native inhabitants as Guanahani. He then visited the islands now known as Cuba and Hispaniola, establishing a colony in what is now Haiti. Columbus returned to Castile in early 1493, with captured natives. Word of his voyage soon spread throughout Europe

special operations veteran, spy, and diplomat who, after serving as the Californian Ambassador to New Texas for several years, was secretly appointed to serve as the head of the Californian Secret Police in 2073. After enlisting in the Californian Security Forces at age 16 and joining the Californian Special Operations at age 17, he rose rapidly through the ranks and achieved the rank of Lieutenant Colonel by age 25. A close ally of Governor-General Magaña and decorated for his success in combat, espionage, and special warfare, he was instrumental in transforming the Californian Special Operations into a highly effective multi-role strike force. After several decades serving in the military, he was appointed to serve as the Californian Ambassador to New Texas and Special Envoy to the Nations of Eastern America, where he served as a public-facing diplomat while continuing to covertly coordinate Californian intelligence operations in the region for several years. Upon returning to California, he was secretly appointed to serve as the head of Magaña's secret police force.

Zak Schwank

Zak Schwank
Schwank in 2022
Mayor of Temecula
Incumbent
Assumed office December 13, 2022
Preceded by	Matt Rahn
Member of the Temecula City Council
Incumbent
Assumed office December 2018
Constituency	District 5 (2018-present)
Personal details
Born	Zak Schwank (1978-05-10) May 10, 1978
Political party	Independent
Children	3
Residence(s)	Temecula, California

Zak Schwank is an American politician who has served as the Mayor of Temecula, California, since 2022, representing District 5 on the Temecula City Council. A political independent, he previously served as Mayor Pro Tempore from 2020 to 2022 and as a Community Services Commissioner from 2013 to 2018, where he served as Chairperson from 2015 to 2018.

Political career

Zak Schwank first ventured into local politics when he partnered with various local bicycle shops and city agencies to coordinate the launch of the Temecula Bike Train, a community organization focused on expanding community access to cycling as a reliable, environmentally friendly, and physically healthy form of transportation, in 2011. Originally held at Paloma Elementary School, the organization soon grew to include programs at Barnett Elementary and Temecula Elementary. Schwank was appointed to the City of Temecula Community Services Commission for his community involvement in 2013 and served as Chairperson from 2015 to 2018.

City Council & Mayoralty

In 2018, he was elected to the Temecula City Council, representing District 5. He served as Mayor Pro Tempore under Mayors James "Stew" Steward and Matt Rahn from 2020 to 2022. He was re-elected in 2022 by the voters of District 5, and was chosen to serve as the Mayor of Temecula in 2022 in a unanimous City Council vote.

During his tenure as Mayor, Schwank has lobbied for and overseen the expansion of hiking trails, bike lanes, and pump tracks across the city. He has criticized anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric made by fellow city council member Jessica Alexander, who made a series of homophobic remarks before walking out of a city council meeting ahead of the City's Pride proclamation by Mayor Schwank.

Schwank launched a YouTube series called "Just the Facts, Zak," in which he promoted tourism and various other activities in the city of Temecula. In February 2023, the City of Temecula received significant publicity after a Saturday Night Live sketch featuring a character named "Lisa from Temecula," played by Ego Nwodim, went viral. Shortly thereafter, Mayor Schwank extended an invitation to attend Temecula's State of the City to Nwodim during an interview on NBC news, to which Nwodim laughingly accepted.

Personal life

Schwank and his wife moved to Temecula in 2001, where they have raised 3 children together. Schwank enjoys biking, hiking, and spending time with his family.

Priya Bhat-Patel

Priya Bhat-Patel
Mayor Pro Tem of Carlsbad
In office 2019–2019
Incumbent
Assumed office 2023
Member of the Carlsbad City Council
Incumbent
Assumed office December 2018
Constituency	District 3 (2018-present)
Personal details
Born	Priya Bhat-Patel United States
Political party	Democratic
Children	1
Residence(s)	Carlsbad, California, U.S.
Education	University of California San Diego (BS) University of Southern California (MPH) Loma Linda University (DPH)

Priya Bhat-Patel is an American politician who has served as the Mayor Pro Tem of Carlsbad, California, since 2023, representing District 3 on the Carlsbad City Council. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served as Mayor Pro Tem in 2019.

Personal life

Bhat-Patel has lived in Carlsbad for most of her life with her husband, son, and dog.