Because of Watergate.
The Watergate Hotel was the site of break-in in an attempt to bug political enemies. Nixon tried to cover it up, was caught, and eventually resigned in the face of impeachment.
This was one of the first big political scandals to get massive media coverage, and ever since, -gate has been used a suffix to indicate scandal.
President Richard Nixon was caught in a major abuse of power by ordering that the rival political party’s meetings be secretly recorded. That meeting took place in the Watergate Hotel, and the revelation that the president had abused his power in such a fashion lead towards his resignation. Since then though, other major scandals have been called “-gate” by reporters trying to make them seem as important.
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