Former state Controller Betty Yee on Wednesday launched her marketing campaign for California governor in 2026, becoming a member of a crowded subject of Democratic candidates practically a 12 months after she initially mentioned she deliberate to run for the job.
In an announcement video posted on social media, Yee emphasised her modest upbringing and her fiscal management in state authorities.
“Folks fear we now have no energy over our future, however I do know we do,” Yee mentioned. “That’s why I’m working for governor. Now we have the grit and the facility to make California add up for all of us once more.”
Yee joins a slate of Democrats with expertise in state authorities however an absence of statewide identify recognition vying to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom, who’s serving his second and remaining time period in workplace.
Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis was the first to announce her marketing campaign final spring. California Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond launched his bid in September. Sen. Toni Atkins (D-San Diego), former President Professional Tem of the higher home, stepped into the race in January.
State Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta mentioned he’s contemplating, however hasn’t formally joined the race. Rep. Katie Porter (D-Irvine), whose bid for the U.S. Senate ended after she completed in a distant third place within the March 5 major election, is amongst a slew of different names talked about in political circles as potential candidates.
In asserting her marketing campaign, Yee advised a compelling story about her upbringing, raised by her Chinese language immigrant dad and mom along with her 5 siblings in a studio condo behind the household’s dry cleansing enterprise in San Francisco.
“Our dad and mom didn’t converse English so I managed the books, coping with banks and suppliers to get issues finished,” Yee mentioned, including that she discovered what numbers meant for household. “If earnings for the week got here up brief, we bought by with one much less carton of milk or loaf of bread. I discovered when issues are out of steadiness, many communities are left to fend for themselves and generally left behind.”
Yee’s marketing campaign web site says she started overseeing the funds of the enterprise when she was 8 years outdated. A product of public colleges, she studied sociology at UC Berkeley and attended Golden Gate College for her grasp’s in public administration.
Yee served as state funds director beneath former Gov. Grey Davis earlier than successful a seat on the California State Board of Equalization in 2006 and once more in 2010. She was elected state controller in 2014. The next 12 months she revealed that the Board of Equalization was failing to correctly deal with the cash it collected and failing to gather money owed that had been owed. Her audits and investigations from the controller’s workplace, she mentioned, discovered greater than $4 billion in misused funds. She received her reelection bid in 2018.
Her funds expertise may attraction to California voters because the state grapples with a historic shortfall. Finances projections recommend the following governor may stroll right into a difficult fiscal atmosphere if state revenues don’t rebound.
Competing for assist from lots of the similar donors may additionally pose a problem for Yee and the opposite Democrats. Kounalakis has raised practically $4 million for her marketing campaign. Atkins has pulled in about $2.5 million, whereas Thurmond has lower than $1 million.
A 2022 Instances report detailed how Yee gave behind-the-scenes recommendation to a politically linked firm in search of a $600-million no-bid authorities contract to offer COVID-19 masks and raised questions on her involvement. The take care of Blue Flame Medical LLC was flagged as attainable fraud and the state was pressured to claw again its $457-million money advance to the corporate.
Instances employees author Melody Gutierrez contributed to this report.
