About Me
TO know me, You have to know where I am coming from, where I have been and the things I have worked for, struggled with, and achieved. In 1858, Abraham Lincoln said, "If we could first know where we are, and wither we are tending, We could better judge What to do, and How to do it." I would humbly add to that, that if we are to know where we are, we must critically understand where we have been, and what has brought us to this moment in time and in history. It is our collective trajectory, the inherited inertia of our principles and our failures. To see them clearly, is the only way to judge in which direction we want to go. To know what the soul of our country is and what we, the people, truly stand for.
- William F. Gates
My Roots and Inspirations
I was born in 1971 in Park Slope, Brooklyn, in NYC. We lived in a small one bedroom apartment in A Brownstone just off Prospect Park. There were 5 of us, including my parents and my brother and sister. My Father worked as a New York City Firefighter and was a Veteran of the U.S. Navy. My Mother was a homemaker for us and was planning to become a nurse.
We lived on the parlor floor and my Grandmother, Violet Flynn Gates, lived below us. My ancestors Came to Boston, Massachusetts from the countryside and farms of Ireland and the coal mines of Wales. Unable to find work in Boston, they decided to try New York city. Both of my Grandparents settled in Greenwich Village, where they met and fell in love.
My Grandmother, Violet Flynn worked two jobs, and sometimes more. one during the day in a factory sharpening carving knives for the National silver company and the other at night behind the counter at Station Pharmacy in Penn Station. After a year she took a different day job at the National Biscuit Company. She worked as much as she could to support her 5 children. In 1976 she retired with a pension of $31.78 a month after 30 years of work. And for the first time in 30 years she had a week off.
My Grandfather Harold Gates was a truck driver and a Union leader in NYC in the 1930's AND 40'S. HE fought for better working conditions and pensions for his Union members. This was very dangerous work during the depression and He was repeatedly beaten and hospitalized for leading strikes. He didn't give up. He had the courage to stand up for what was right. He continued to fight and won the benefits and pensions for his fellow workers. But was blacklisted and his life was threatened.
He Embraced collective non-violence as the way to achieve enduring change. He urged his fellow striking workers while on strike to: "act as gentlemen at all times. We must not play into the hands of those who would be only too glad to see us lose this strike." The same can be said now of our protests against ICE and Trump. We must embrace non-violent resistance as the lasting means for the transformative revolution that's needed.
My Mother, Dawn Howell Gates became a registered Nurse and worked in the Intensive Care unit and the recovery unit for decades. She was also a union leader and organizer at the hospital she worked at in NYC.
My father, William Francis Gates Sr. (Yes, I am a Jr.) Was drafted by the NY Yankees after getting out of the Navy in 1959. He was a Navy All Star and was one of the very best Ball players. But his father wanted him to get a real job and made him come back home and get a city job with a pension and a union. He became a NYC Firefighter in 1960, and never looked back. He loved the Fire Department and rose in the ranks it become a Captain. He was one of the most decorated firefighters in the history of the FDNY. Retiring after 34 years. The photo on the right show him rescuing a fire victim, giving mouth to mouth in 1983 in ChinaTown in lower manhattan. The photo below shows him giving oxygen to a baby he rescued from a burning Brooklyn apartment
On April 12, 1969, a year after the assassination of Dr. martin Luther King Jr., My father was asked by the Fire department of New York City to help better integrate the F.D.N.Y. He went to Black neighborhoods to speak with young men about how great it is to be a firefighter, about the value of a pension. My father taught me that all people cherish the same things: Family, Dignity, meaningful work, hope for the future, and that most people can be divided into two categories, Givers and Takers. And that we, the Gates', are givers, that live by the words of Dr. King, That life's most persistent and urgent question is "What are you doing for others?"
He also became an elected union official in the Uniformed Fire Officers Association. Leading and organizing efforts for better & more protective gear and clothing for firefighters.
My name is William F. Gates. I live in Worcester with my three children and I am a candidate for the United States Senate from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Some of you may know me as a friend, some as a colleague or co-worker. Some of you may know me as a neighbor or community member. Others may know me as their former union leader or as someone who fought and organized for better working conditions. Some of you might have been my former or current students. Others may know me from walking the picket lines with striking workers and some of you may not know me at all. Some of you may know me as a firefighter or as a dishwasher and a cook, or as a Professor, as an architect and a bee keeper, as a gardener, or for my work at the United Nations or as a published academic and champion of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging.
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But regardless of all of that, if you know me, then I think you know that I am someone that cares deeply about our future, as a state, as a nation, as a community, as human beings on a habitable and peaceful planet. Today I am humbly asking for your help. I cannot stand aside from this moment. These are not ordinary times, it is A moment of great and unprecedented peril for our nation and the future of organized human culture. There is no time left to wait for our elected officials to act as I feel they must. I have decided to run for elected office. So I am asking for your support.
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I am a life long Democrat that embraces democratic socialist principles in the style of Bernie Sanders, AOC, and Zohran Mamdani, and I am seeking the Democratic nomination for the United States Senate from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. I believe that justice is central to our way of life and that no one is above the law, yet we are led by convicted criminals, Traitors, abusers, and thieves that are auctioning off generations of our sacrifices for their personal enrichment. I believe our communities, our rights to privacy, universal healthcare, and a sustainable and verdant world is possible, and necessary, and is being destroyed by Billionaires, our corporations, lobbyists, an Obsessive materialism and an obsessive militarism, and that a lust for power is keeping our politicians from representing the people.
It is time to begin again. It is time for Revolution, as Our own declaration of Independence advises us. Our campaign needs your help. Please consider reaching out to contribute, volunteer, or share your ideas and thoughts to help us move forward.
I believe the issues I am fighting for deserve a voice and I am running because these issues demand a champion, not a bystander.
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Please email me to arrange a meeting so that we can talk and I can listen to and hear your ideas and thoughts to help us move forward and to discuss my candidacy:
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contact@williamfgatesforsenate.com
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At this time, I humbly ask for your consideration and support. Please read more about the people's platform for Massachusetts we are developing and I welcome and look forward to meeting and speaking with you.
Thank you.
Very Sincerely and Respectfully,
William F. Gates
Democratic Candidate for The United States Senate from The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Our Vision
This campaign represents a fundamental reimagining of what Massachusetts and America can become when we center human dignity, justice, ecological sustainability, and genuine democracy. Drawing inspiration from the democratic socialist tradition of Senator Bernie Sanders, the revolutionary policies of RFK, JFK and the human rights framework established by FDR, Eleanor Roosevelt, Martin Luther King Jr., and the proven educational excellence of the educational systems that once placed the United States first among all nations in education.
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We propose a comprehensive transformation of our political, social and economic institutions. It is an essential effort to save organized human culture and our cherished principles and institutions. This is our moment, this is our chance, this is our responsibility. It's now, or never. We believe that every person deserves not just the opportunity to survive, but to thrive—with meaningful work, dignified healthcare, world-class education, sustainable communities, and genuine political power.
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This is not a moderate platform seeking incremental change. The time for that has passed. This is a call for revolutionary transformation rooted in democratic principles and human rights. Our approach is distinct, ensuring that we are actively engaged in the fight for justice and equality.