For Congress, U.S. Rep. Bill Keating faces challenger Dan Sullivan, a working nurse

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U.S. Rep. William Keating, who has represented the South Coast in Congress for more than a decade, is facing off against hospital nurse and Republican challenger Dan Sullivan Nov. 5 for the 9th District U.S. House seat.

Sullivan has never held public office, and when he’s not working as a nurse in a state prison or community hospital, he’s been campaigning across the district. 

The two candidates met for the first time this month during a forum hosted by the League of Women Voters Falmouth. They touched on democracy, offshore wind, border control, reproductive rights and climate change in the span of 20 minutes. 

Keating, a Democrat, has represented Massachusetts in Congress since 2010. In his last election, in 2022, he secured about 60% of votes. Sullivan lost in the Republican primary for Congress that year, and in 2023 he mounted an unsuccessful bid for school committee in Plymouth. 

In 2020, the 9th District — which encapsulates some 780,000 residents, from Westport to Cape Cod and from Cohasset down to Nantucket — leaned blue, with nearly 60% of votes going to President Joe Biden. The district spans the South Shore, the South Coast, and the Cape and Islands. 

The Light spoke with Keating and Sullivan about why they are running, what they think are the most pressing issues facing Americans, and what they plan to do about it. 

Bill Keating

Keating, 72, started his career in public office as a state representative in the late ‘70s. He later served in the state Senate. 

“At the dinner table back home when I was growing up, my parents would always be talking about government issues. … [They] would have dialogue that I would just absorb,” the Bourne-based Democrat said. “Every job is important. … But the fact is, through elected office, legislatively, you can make changes that you couldn’t as directly with other professions.”

Keating earned his law degree and served as the Norfolk County District Attorney for nearly a decade. He successfully ran for Congress in 2010 for the 10th Congressional District, which covered the Cape and Islands and the South Shore. Keating became the South Coast’s congressman with the 2012 election, after redistricting combined the South Coast with Cape Cod and some South Shore communities to create the 9th District.

In his time in Congress, Keating has served on the armed services and foreign affairs committees. 

In an interview and during the Falmouth discussion, Keating stressed the importance of protecting the country’s democracy, which he argues is under threat by former President Donald Trump. 

“We have a domestic threat to democracy. … If we don’t honor our elections, if we don’t honor people’s votes, then everything else pales by comparison: we fail to have democracy,” he told The Light. 

“I was there January 6 … I know how dangerous that was. People came in with guns, they came in with knives … bear spray, acid. This wasn’t a peaceful protest; it was an insurrection to stop the voting,” he continued. “Then-Vice President Michael Pence decided to uphold the Constitution. But there are too many people, including my opponent, who questioned this basic thing.” 

Sullivan, asked by The Light about the results of the 2020 election, did not state in clear terms that President Joe Biden won. He said he has “healthy skepticism” and does not believe everything the government says. 

“I research myself. I don’t know enough about the results of the 2020 election. I know that Biden has been president… I’m not interested in re-litigating 2020,” he told The Light. He then criticized early voting and voter identification measures that he said are lax.

On immigration, Keating said he supports a bipartisan border security bill, and also said that the government needs to fix delays in its “broken” system to process asylum requests. 

On the South Coast, particularly in New Bedford, the burgeoning offshore wind industry has earned champions and strong detractors. 

Keating has been an offshore wind supporter, recently attending a waterfront ribbon-cutting for a new terminal in the Port of New Bedford that will service both offshore wind and the fishing industry. (He said the new terminal is also good for the fishermen, who will be able to dock there at a subsidized rate.)  

He touted funding he secured for the National Offshore Wind Institute (NOWI), also on the city’s waterfront, which certifies people to work offshore on and around the turbines. 

“With offshore wind, we want to make sure the jobs stay here. Those jobs are skilled jobs and they need training,” he said. “My amendment secured $2 million for the National Offshore Wind Institute in New Bedford so that training occurs there, so we become an international center.”

Offshore wind is not only a clean form of energy, Keating said, but also a “job incubator” and a necessity to meet energy demand for the state’s homes and businesses. 

On the Vineyard Wind blade failure over the summer, Keating expressed concern, penning a letter to federal regulators. The congressman told The Light he met with Vineyard Offshore’s CEO shortly after the failure and got a commitment that the company would do a better job communicating with local communities.

Another issue on Massachusetts voters’ minds, polls show, is reproductive rights and abortion. Both candidates were asked for their stance during candidates’ night. 

Keating is for abortion rights and voted to codify it through the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would establish a federal statutory right for health care providers to provide abortion care and for patients to receive it. To date, the bill has not passed. Keating promised he would vote for it again, and that women should also have access to contraceptives protected. 

Keating has earned the endorsements of more than a dozen organizations, including the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, the Massachusetts Nurses Association, the Sierra Club, Ironworkers Local 7, the Southeastern Massachusetts Central Labor Council and Moms Demand Action, a gun safety advocacy organization. 

For voters, Keating had this message: “I will honor your vote … That is the core of our democracy. When I say democracy is at stake right now, it is. So take advantage of that great opportunity.” 

Dan Sullivan 

Sullivan, a registered nurse, has made his profession part of his candidacy, donning bright blue scrubs in interviews and campaign videos, and printing “Nurse” as his title on campaign signs.

He has continued his day job while campaigning for Congress. Working double shifts many nights, he said he has cut down on sleep to spend a few hours each day campaigning in towns in the 9th District, including a stop in New Bedford. 

The 58-year-old Plymouth resident pivoted from corporate sales to nursing after the Great Recession, earning his degree over nights and weekends. He is currently employed at Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton and at a state prison, where he treats inmates. 

Nursing is “one of the few professions where you can actually have a positive impact on a person,” Sullivan told The Light.

He said he does not want to be like career politicians, whom he describes as out of touch with the daily struggles citizens face.

“Our political leadership just doesn’t care about us anymore. I work two jobs. I work with a ton of nurses who work two jobs and double shifts to make ends meet. I have friends with a side hustle to make ends meet,” Sullivan said. “People are working harder for less. That’s a problem. It’s unsustainable.”

Sullivan spoke a lot about mental health and substance use disorder, pulling from his experience treating patients — both incarcerated and in hospitals — who have mental disorders and issues with drugs. 

He called it an epidemic, and said that if elected, he would use his position in Congress to secure more funding for sober houses and inpatient treatment centers so that they can grow their capacity (often measured by the number of available beds).

“More money spent on treating the mentally ill, less money funding foreign wars,” Sullivan told The Light. “I’m tired of these forever wars.”

The other top issues Sullivan cited are affordability and immigration. 

“What we need to do is pause our immigration to get a handle on who is in this country, legally or illegally,” he said, citing recent arrests of five undocumented men in Nantucket.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement last month arrested and charged five immigrants from Central and South America with violent crimes. Several studies have found that undocumented immigration does not lead to increases in crime, and that undocumented immigrants are less likely to be incarcerated than native-born U.S. citizens. 

Sullivan also said the government needs to close the southern border.

For the South Coast and islands, Sullivan highlighted offshore wind as an issue, expressing concern over the impact turbines will have on the fishing industry and shoreside communities.

He spoke of the blade failure. “Mr. Keating called that a blip. I call that an eco-disaster,” Sullivan said at the Falmouth event, after the moderator asked both candidates to comment on climate mitigation. 

“I’m not sure that industrializing the waters off of Cape Cod and the islands is the optimal place for wind turbines,” he said in an interview with The Light. “I know under Biden, the plan is to industrialize the coastline from the Carolinas to Maine. I just don’t know if that is good policy [or] good environmentalism.”

Sullivan also expressed concern that electricity from wind farms could cost more for ratepayers. It has been reported that upcoming wind projects may cost Massachusetts ratepayers more than previous projects. (The state has yet to announce the expected electricity cost.) 

On abortion, Sullivan described himself as a health care professional who is “pro-life in every sense of the word.” He said that as a nurse, he does not like to see “any unnatural death,” but that “at the same time, you have to be practical about things.” 

He said the Obama administration and Democrats failed to codify abortion access, supplying themselves with an issue to campaign on and “win elections.” He said the U.S. should look to European countries’ abortion laws as a model. 

According to the Center for Reproductive Rights, European countries vary in their abortion laws. Some have a limit between 18 to 24 weeks of pregnancy (others earlier at the first trimester). But all allow access later under exigent circumstances. 

In an interview, Sullivan said he supports legal abortion in cases of rape, incest and when the mother’s health is at risk, and that states that totally prohibit abortion and those that allow it in the third trimester are both “extreme” in their positions. 

He said states should look to the fetal viability as a guide, without settling on a firm gestational age. 

“I think that 24 weeks is more acceptable than legalizing abortion through 40 weeks,” Sullivan told The Light. 

He also spoke from personal experience. 

”In my 20s, I conceived with my girlfriend and I asked my girlfriend to get an abortion. She said no. I respected her decision,” Sullivan said at the Falmouth event. “Twenty-nine years later, I have a wonderful son. … I do respect the woman’s right to choose, but I also acknowledge that there is a question about fetal viability.”

Sullivan said he has been endorsed by several Republican town committees.

For voters, he had this to say: “It’s one of the unique opportunities to have your voices heard and choices honored. … I hope that you choose change and progress in the form of me versus the status quo in the form of Bill Keating.”

Keating and Sullivan are slated to debate on Oct. 29 on South Shore radio station WATD, both candidates confirmed.

Email Anastasia E. Lennon at alennon@newbedfordlight.org.