After her divorce from Bill Gates, Melinda French Gates came into her own billions of dollars, with which she could do whatever she chose. She used to insist on appearing nonpartisan, but no more. When Melinda French Gates was running the world’s biggest philanthropy with her husband, Bill Gates, she insisted on staying on the sidelines of politics.
She was half of one of America’s most celebrated couples, and she did not want to invite backlash from governments around the world, to say nothing of getting crosswise with Washington by endorsing someone who could lose. Then, in 2021, that well-ordered life blew up. Her divorce from Gates was a bombshell – and its consequences still ripple three years later.
She suddenly came into her own billions of dollars, with which she could do whatever she chose. This year, she decided to resign from her namesake foundation, which meant she could set her own agenda. And, after decades of carefully scripted neutrality, she did what she had wanted to do ever since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v.
Wade: She dove headfirst into politics. At 60, French Gates has reinvented herself, surprisingly, as an ascendant Democratic megadonor. She has endorsed political candidates, given more than US$13 million ($21m) to groups supporting Vice-President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign, had her team talk to Harris’ advisers about a joint event, and publicly championed abortion rights, an issue she downplayed for decades because it was too.