The Season 5 premiere of House of Cards is just around the corner, so the time to get caught up on all the political maneuvering and shady deals from last season is now. I think it's safe to say no other new character made quite the same impact as the show's Republican presidential nominee. Instead of asking yourself what Will Conway did in House of Cards Season 4, you should be asking what he didn't do, because the family man turned out to be one of the truest threats to the Underwoods' power that the couple has faced so far.
Conway explodes on the scene as the ultimate golden boy politician. The New York Governor is everything Frank isn't — young, handsome, a veteran, and a father. At one point, Frank opines, "If you were a Democrat, you would be unstoppable. You would be JFK."
Perhaps the biggest advantage Conway has over his opponent is his tech-savvy ways. Throughout Season 4, he took every opportunity to snap selfies with his cute kids, upload videos of himself with his wife, and use the internet to discuss his impressive military history. The more he engages with the public, the more his polling numbers go up, which makes Frank suspicious.
After a bit of digging, Frank uncovers Conway's secret. The Republican nominee used the fictional search engine Pollyhop to target individual voters and tailor his image to fit the needs of almost anyone. Conway and his team's use of the search engine to gather personal information was set to be a major scandal for the ideal candidate, but he sidestepped the issue by inviting the American public to look through every intimate detail in his life — in a live-streamed interview, of course.
With Pollyhop just a blip on his otherwise squeaky clean record, it seems like Conway is unstoppable. No one is untouchable in the world of House of Cards though, especially not when they're on Frank and Claire's bad sides. After making all of the right moves, the young politician finds himself falling into a trap as the season comes to an end.
The New York Governor is instrumental in talking down terrorists who are holding three Americans hostage by drawing on his military background. This is experience Frank simply doesn't have. However, the Underwoods are nothing if not savvy in the ways of politics, and things are looking grim for Conway after Frank catches him in a lie about his interference with the House Intelligence Committee.
By the end of Season 4, Conway's lead is still in place, but Frank is working overtime to draw the U.S. into a war in the hopes of holding onto his role as president. With three weeks left until the winner of the election is announced, Frank and Conway will enter Season 5 still locked in their bitter feud to see which one of them will be the President of the United States.
