Bill was re-elected to another four-year term on the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors in 2020. Maricopa County is the fourth largest county in the United States with a population of over 4.5 million people. Bill represents over 900,000 residents as a Maricopa County Supervisor. He was first elected to the Board of Supervisors in 2016. He previously served as the Chairman of the Board in 2019 when, among other things, Bill negotiated a re-organization of the Maricopa County Elections Department with then-Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes. Bill again took the helm as Chairman of the Board in 2022 successfully developing the strategic plan process, guiding the expenditure of $181.5 million in funds from the American Rescue Plan Act (Federal COVID-19 Relief) to numerous significant projects, and leading the Board of Supervisors to pass the largest property tax cut in Maricopa County history. During the November 2022 General Election, Bill participated in 16 press conferences as the eyes of the world were on the Maricopa County Elections Department as numerous statewide races with razor thin margins were counted over a 13-day period. Prior to joining the Board of Supervisors, Bill served on the Phoenix City Council from 2009-2016, including a stint as Vice Mayor in 2013.
Bill has been a lifelong Republican. He founded the Teenage Republican Club at his high school, was an officer in the Iowa Federation of College Republicans and served as a Republican legislative district chair and the Secretary of the Maricopa County Republican Committee in the early 2000s. Bill also led the Arizona Republican Party’s election integrity efforts in 2006 and 2008 organizing a cadre of poll watchers and attorneys to ensure that every eligible vote was counted.
Bill has been featured in many publications regarding his work as a member of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors particularly as it relates to the operation of elections including the New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, The Los Angeles Times, The Economist, The New Yorker, der Spiegel, The Guardian, Rolling Stone, and Reuters. He is a frequent contributor on CNN and has appeared on the CBS Evening News and 60 Minutes, Showtime’s The Circus, ABC’s This Week, Fox News, PBS, MSNBC, BBC, Bloomberg Radio, as well as several local channels on this same topic.
Bill testified on October 7, 2021, before The United States House Oversight and Reform Committee in Washington, DC, about election integrity regarding the results of Maricopa County’s 2020 General Election. Bill, along with then-Chairman of the Board Jack Sellers, detailed the steps taken by the County to ensure election integrity and expressed concerns with the recent “audit” of Maricopa County ballots and equipment by Arizona Senate contractors.
Bill is the recipient of various awards, commending his years of leadership, service, and defense of democracy including The Truman Foundation’s Joseph E. Stevens Public Service Award in 2022, The Arizona Republic’s 2021 Arizonan of the Year, and The Phoenix Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 in 2010.
Bill has practiced law in Phoenix, Arizona for over 25 years and serves on numerous non-profit boards. He has also been very active in law-related education serving as a regional coordinator and attorney-coach at the high school and intercollegiate levels since graduating from law school. Bill holds a B.S. from Drake University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He attended American Legion Arizona Boys’ State and was Senator from Arizona at the 1988 American Legion Boys’ Nation.
Bill served on Gov. Doug Ducey’s transition team in 2014 and was appointed by President George W. Bush to the Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation in 2006. Bill also was appointed to the Federal Communications Commission Intergovernmental Advisory Committee in 2018. In 2019, Bill was selected by Gov. Ducey to serve on the Workforce Arizona Council. In 2022, Bill became a Fellow of the Rodel Fellowships in Public Leadership Program. Supervisor Gates is a member of the Elected Officials Legal Defense Network. He is also the Chairman of the Greater Phoenix Broadband Task Force and a Co-Chair of the Maricopa County Mental Health Steering Committee.
Bill has been married for 26 years and has three daughters ages 21, 19 and 19.