Before Wil Gregersen could deal with his fattening list of frustrations, he needed permission from his wife of 23 years. He eventually received it.

So, three months ago, Gregersen, a community services librarian at the Warwick Public Library, quietly announced his quest to be Rhode Island’s next governor to a small gathering of friends and family at a vegan ice-cream shop on Hope Street in Providence.

“I’m frustrated in the way that none of our problems are getting solved here in Rhode Island,” he said. “The process just isn’t working. We’re not getting anywhere.”

You won’t find Wil Gregersen on the Sept. 9 primary ballot, however. Steven R. Gregersen is his legal name. How he became known as Wil is “a silly tale,” as he called it.

At Drexel University, he worked in a 10-person office where three people were named Steve. The office manager designated them Steve 1, 2, and 3.

“Years later, when I met my wife, I told her the story, and she came up with a list of rare names,” Steve 3 recalled. “I picked Willoughby, and my nickname was born.”

It was born but quickly shortened to Wil.

Wil, 63, is running for governor because he is troubled by what is happening in Rhode Island and feels a responsibility to do something about it. He would like a government that viewed investing in Rhode Island as a way to solve problems. He values public service and expertise and believes good government requires both.

He is particularly frustrated that for the past five decades government has been taking money from working people and giving it to the wealthy. The generations of the 1940s, ’50s, and ’60s “kept their share of our country’s wealth because government used to watch out for workers.”

“We bow down to the free-market capitalists, which is a trend that’s been going on for 50 years,” Gregersen said. “[President Ronald] Reagan and [British Prime Minister Margaret] Thatcher really gave it the juice. I’ve watched as workers’ money has just gone up to the rich, and the budgets of the state and federal government have been cut. We’re not taking care of infrastructure or services.”

The longtime Democrat isn’t sure, however, if he even fits into the party anymore.

“I don’t think either party is really trying to solve problems for everyone,” Gregersen said. “I have this feeling about politics that politics is picking winners and losers, and it seems to me to be very much opposed to good government — good government is making everybody a winner if it’s done right.”

The Providence resident wants to reform Rhode Island’s government to improve how it serves its residents, to correct the power imbalance in the General Assembly, and to ensure state departments are carrying out their missions.

For instance, he would require the Department of Environmental Management to “finally obey” the Natural Areas Protection Act of 1993.

His campaign is focused on energy, affordable housing, heath care, social justice, and environmental protections. His priorities:

Build a statewide, publicly owned, renewable energy utility that lowers the cost of energy and creates a new source of revenue for Rhode Island. He has long supported the idea, and his determination for such a plan was strengthened in 2022, when Rhode Island Energy requested and the Public Utilities Commission unanimously approved a 47% electric rate hike.

He supports legislation that would require new homes be built with rooftop solar panels. He believes the state’s collection of massive parking lots should be covered by solar carports. He noted the Ocean State should better explore marine energy created by tide cycles and wave action.

Launch a single-payer health-care system to address the escalating cost of health care that began in the 2000s.

Build 25,000 units of affordable housing.

Create a statewide public transit system that is effective and reliable.

Build a tax system that decreases the amount of income, property, and sales tax paid at lower incomes and increases it for the highest incomes.

Remake the General Assembly into a full-time body. He noted the Rhode Island General Assembly is among the 10 state legislatures that work the least, are the lowest paid, and have the least amount of staff to help lawmakers do their jobs. The National Conference of State Legislatures calls these states “Part-Time Lite.”

“The nature of the problems that we have in the state are too complex to take folks, have them work all day, most of them, and then come at 4 p.m. and work into the evening half a year to have that work be successful,” he said. “We need a full-time Legislature, so that our legislators can fully focus on what they’re doing and they can do it year-round. The ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ hit and we were out of session and [House Speaker Joe] Shekarchi was talking about calling [lawmakers] into session to try and address the problem.”

The federal legislation was signed into law July 4, 2025, and months went by “before our legislators were even working on what was going to be a really big issue for our state.”

Born and raised in Wisconsin, Gregersen has lived in Chicago, St. Louis, and Philadelphia. He moved to Rhode Island two decades ago, after his wife accepted a job at the Rhode Island School of Design.

“I never felt at home until I moved to Rhode Island,” he told me.

Over the years, Gregersen has spent ample time at the Statehouse attending hearings, testifying on bills, and speaking to lawmakers. He said he has watched the state’s elected officials change from being responsive to the people they represent to focusing on what the speaker of the House or the Senate president wants.

“We don’t have a full democracy,” he said. “Legislators don’t have enough time to do their jobs and many end up being cozy with the speaker or Senate president to get things done. They stop looking at the people they represent for guidance and they start looking toward the people who have power. They think they aren’t going to get anything done if they don’t have the favor, you know, of their king, and they end up more and more bowing to the king and less and less representing us. I think it takes them in directions where they’re going to do the work of the rich and the powerful.”

With a campaign account that contains about a $1,000, it’s no surprise Gregersen isn’t a proponent of excessive fundraising, especially in a state as small as Rhode Island.

“I really believe that word of mouth in this state, where there’s like two degrees of separation, I think that’s possible,” he said, “if I can convince people that we can do things.”

Gregersen doesn’t plan on taking a leave of absence from his job of 15 years. During his time off and on weekends, his plan is to visit all 39 Rhode Island municipalities to talk with people.

He spent a vacation morning last week speaking with me at a Portsmouth coffee shop.

His path to becoming a librarian began in his 20s in a seminary studying and thinking about becoming a pastor. He knew he wanted to help and serve people, but discovered pastor wasn’t the right role for him. As he approached 40, a librarian asked him if he had ever considered joining the profession. He hadn’t, but his eyes had been opened. He enrolled in library school. In his nearly two decades working as a librarian, he’s had the “privilege” to serve three communities: Cumberland, Barrington, and Warwick.

Like his career path, his pathway into politics wasn’t a straight line. This is his first time running for office.

“Librarians don’t need to know the answers. They need to know how to find them,” he wrote in an essay on his website. “And in the same way, governors don’t need to have all the solutions to our problems. They need smart and experienced people they can work with to find solutions.”

Too often, according to Gregersen, the state outsources its expertise.

“This is part of what frustrates me about our state. There are many things the state could be doing for itself, could be doing cheaper, but it keeps outsourcing,” he said. “It’s like it wants to sell our state to the highest bidder, or it’s always trying to sell it to private concerns.”

His wife wasn’t the only person he needed to persuade that a run for governor made sense.

“She definitely needed some time, but honestly the person I had to convince the most was me, because I have never wanted to be a public person. I really value my privacy,” Gregersen said. “I really had to spend six months just working through what I cared about, what the point of this was, what I would want to accomplish. I put myself out there. I really want change. I really want all of us to be better off in Rhode Island.”

Note: Eight candidates are running for governor in Rhode Island: Democrats Helena Foulkes, Wil Gregersen, Dan McKee, and Gregory Stevens; Independent Ken Block; and Republicans Aaron Guckian, Elaine Pelino, and Robert Raimondo. The primaries are scheduled for Sept. 9. ecoRI News does not endorse political candidates.

Frank Carini can be reached at [email protected]. His opinions don’t reflect those of ecoRI News.