An election official from Arizona claims to have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following the 2020 presidential election. 

The official, according to the Washington Post, is Bill Gates. Gates, who identifies as a Republican and claims to have even supported former President Donald Trump in 2016, sits on the board of supervisors of Maricopa County's election board.

The reader may remember that then-candidate Joe Biden defeated then-President Trump in Arizona by a total of roughly 10,000 votes in the 2020 presidential election and that the results from Maricopa County were steeped in controversy. Gates was among those who pushed back against claims of election fraud that were made by Trump and others.

Now, Gates is claiming that he has been diagnosed with PTSD that resulted from what he experienced during the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election.

The diagnosis

Gates's PTSD was first revealed in an article that was published by the Washington Post in early May 2023.

The Post writes that, in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election, Gates and other members of the Maricopa County board "faced relentless criticism, violent threats, and online harassment for upholding the results of the 2020 presidential election."

Gates told the outlet that "his integrity had been questioned," that he had been "labeled a traitor who should be shot or hung," and that at least one person had said that "his daughters should be raped."

Apparently, the pressure on Gates reached the point at which he essentially snapped.

The Post reported, "A therapist would soon tell him he was experiencing classic signs of post-traumatic stress disorder, a condition typically associated with wartime veterans and violent assaults."

Gates explains

More recently, Gates participated in another interview about his PTSD diagnosis.

There, he said:

My therapist told me: "You have PTSD — you didn’t have bullets whizzing by your head, but you suffered a significant trauma and it’s been very public." Your integrity is something that’s very important to you. And it has been challenged on a daily basis… your family has been threatened and you’ve been threatened.

Gates goes on to recall how, while delivering a eulogy at a funeral of a fellow Republican, he snapped. This, apparently, is when his wife urged him to start undergoing therapy. And, this is what he did.

Gates now claims that he has made "peace" with his situation. He has chosen not to seek reelection to Maricopa County's board in 2024 after his term ends.

Gates, instead, is spending his time combatting those who "openly espouse fringe conspiracy theories," and he insists that "the 2024 election is really important to the future of this democracy."