Betty Yee
Official portrait, 2016
32ndController of California
In office January 5, 2015 – January 2, 2023
Governor	Jerry Brown Gavin Newsom
Preceded by	John Chiang
Succeeded by	Malia Cohen
Member of theCalifornia State Board of Equalization from the 1st district
In office December 6, 2004 – January 5, 2015
Preceded by	Carole Migden
Succeeded by	Fiona Ma
Personal details
Born	(1957-10-19)October 19, 1957 (age 68) San Francisco,California, U.S.
Party	Democratic
Education	University of California, Berkeley (BA) Golden Gate University (MPA)
Chinese name
Chinese	余淑婷
Jyutping	jyu4 suk6 ting4
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Yú Shūtíng Yue: Cantonese Jyutping jyu4 suk6 ting4

Betty Ting Yee (born October 19, 1957)^[1] is an American politician and member of theDemocratic Party who served asCalifornia State Controller from 2015 to 2023. She previously served as a member of theCalifornia Board of Equalization from 2004 to 2015. She won the open seat for Controller in the2014 election, with 54% of the vote.^[2] Yee won reelection in2018, defeatingRepublican Konstantinos Roditis in a landslide, and she served as Controller until January 2, 2023.

Yee became Vice Chair of theCalifornia Democratic Party in May 2021,^[3][4][5] after defeating party secretary Jenny Bach andVictorville Councilmember Blanca Gómez.^[6][7]

In March 2019, Yee announced her intention to run in the2026 California gubernatorial election.^[8] In April 2023, after fellow contenderLieutenant Governor of CaliforniaEleni Kounalakis announced her bid for governor, Yee reiterated her plans to run for governor, and formally launched her campaign in March 2024.^[9][5][10] In 2023, Yee served as a fellow at theUSC Center for the Political Future.^[11]

A native of theParkside district ofSan Francisco, Yee's parents emigrated fromGuangdong Province, China in 1956. She handled the books in her family's neighborhood laundry and dry cleaning business while she grew up.^[1]

Originally speaking no English, she spent her grade school years in theSan Francisco Unified School District and graduated fromLowell High School before attending theUniversity of California, Berkeley as an undergraduate, attaining abachelor's degree insociology. She went on to attendGolden Gate University, from which she earned amaster's degree in public administration.

Yee worked for the Legislature and was then GovernorGray Davis's chief deputy director for budget, later saying that "My role was to present all the options possible. Politics came into play. The governor and legislative leaders made decisions that sometimes didn't agree with our recommendations."^[1] She then became the Chief Deputy toBoard of Equalization memberCarole Migden.^[12] She was appointed to fill the seat when Migden vacated it after being elected to the state Senate.

Yee was elected in her own right to theCalifornia Board of Equalization in2006 from the 1st Board District and was re-elected in2010.^[13] She led the successful effort to forceAmazon.com to collect sales taxes on online purchases, the so-called "Amazon tax".^[1][14][15]

She ran forCalifornia State Controller in the2014 election to succeed term-limited Democratic incumbentJohn Chiang, who waselected California State Treasurer.^[16] In thenonpartisan blanket primary, RepublicanAshley Swearengin, the Mayor ofFresno, and Yee finished first and second, respectively. The third-place finisher, DemocraticSpeaker of theCalifornia State AssemblyJohn Pérez, initially called for a recount in 15 counties after official results showed him trailing Yee by just 481 votes out of over 4 million cast; however, he ultimately conceded to Yee more than a month after the primary.^[17][18][19] Swearengin and Yee competed in the general election, which Yee won by 3,810,304 votes (53.97%) to 3,249,668 (46.03%).

As State Controller, Yee sat on theCalifornia State Lands Commission. She supports investing in alternative energy and opposesfracking for oil.^[1] An advocate of tax reform, she opposes extending GovernorJerry Brown's temporary tax increases, instead proposing to lower the state sales tax and extend it to currently untaxed services.^[1]

Yee also serves as Vice President of California Women Lead, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization for women holding or interested in running for political office.^[20]

Betty Yee sits on the board of trustees for the State Teachers Retirement System.^[21]

Yee has served as the Female Vice Chair of theCalifornia Democratic Party since May 2021,^{[3][4][22][5]} after defeating party secretary Jenny Bach andVictorville Councilmember Blanca Gómez.^[6][7]

In March 2019, Yee,Lieutenant Governor of CaliforniaEleni Kounalakis, andCalifornia State TreasurerFiona Ma announced they would run in the2026 California gubernatorial election.^[8] In April 2023, after Kounalakis announced her bid for governor, Yee confirmed her plans to run for governor, though the formal launch would not happen until later in 2023.^[9][5] Meanwhile, Ma would instead run for lieutenant governor.^[9]

Yee officially announced her campaign on March 27, 2024, with a video highlighting her upbringing as the daughter of immigrants and experience handling the state budget.^[10][23]

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