Kimberly Yee (born February 23, 1974) is an American politician serving as the 36th

Arizona state treasurer The State Treasurer is the state of Arizona’s chief banker and investment officer. The Treasurer’s Office accounts for and manages the cash flows of state government, directs the state’s banking services, disburses public funds, and manages ...

. She is the first Asian-American woman elected to the

Arizona State Legislature The Arizona State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Arizona. It is a bicameral legislature that consists of a lower house, the House of Representatives, and an upper house, the Senate. Composed of 90 legislators, the ...

. A member of the

Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa * Republican Party (Liberia) *Republican Party ...

, she was elected to the

Arizona House of Representatives The Arizona State House of Representatives is the lower house of the Arizona Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Arizona. The upper house is the Senate. The House convenes in the legislative chambers at the Arizona State C ...

for the 10th legislative district from 2011 to 2013 and the

Arizona Senate The Arizona State Senate is part of the Arizona Legislature, the state legislature of the US state of Arizona. The Senate consists of 30 members each representing an average of 219,859 constituents (2009 figures). Members serve two-year terms ...

for the 20th legislative district from 2013 until 2019. On November 29, 2017, she announced her candidacy for the position of Arizona state treasurer; she was elected to the position on November 6, 2018. She is also the first Chinese American Republican woman to win a major statewide office in the history of the United States. As Treasurer, Kimberly Yee is currently the highest-ranking statewide elected Republican woman in Arizona. Yee announced her candidacy for Arizona governor in May 2021 but withdrew from the Republican nomination race in January 2022 to run for reelection as treasurer.

Early life and education

Yee was born and raised in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...

; she traces her ancestry to

Taishan, Guangdong Taishan (), alternately romanized in Cantonese as Toishan or Toisan, in local dialect as Hoisan, and formerly known as Xinning or Sunning (), is a county-level city in the southwest of Guangdong province, China. It is administered as part o ...

. Yee attended Greenway High School in Phoenix where she was a student journalist at the Demon Dispatch in the early 1990s. Yee is a graduate of

Pepperdine University Pepperdine University () is a private research university affiliated with the Churches of Christ with its main campus in Los Angeles County, California. Pepperdine's main campus consists of 830 acres (340 ha) overlooking the Pacific Ocean and th ...

where she earned a bachelor's degree in political science and a bachelor's degree in English. She also holds a master's degree in public administration from

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

's School of Public Affairs, and was the recipient of the honored Scholar-Citizen Award.

Career

Yee worked for California governors

Pete Wilson Peter Barton Wilson (born August 23, 1933) is an American attorney and politician who served as the 36th governor of California from 1991 to 1999. A member of the Republican Party, he also served as a United States senator from California betw ...

and

Arnold Schwarzenegger Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July 30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, film producer, businessman, retired professional bodybuilder and politician who served as the 38th governor of California between 2003 and 2011. ''Time'' ...

. She was then communications director at the office of the state treasurer of Arizona. Upon the recommendation of Governor

Jan Brewer Janice Kay Brewer (''née'' Drinkwine, formerly Warren; born September 26, 1944) is an American politician and author who was the 22nd governor of Arizona from 2009 to 2015. A member of the Republican Party, Brewer is the fourth woman (and was ...

, Yee was appointed by the

Maricopa County Board of Supervisors The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors is the governing body of Maricopa County, a county of over four million in Arizona. The five supervisors are each elected from single-member districts to serve four-year terms. Primary elections and general ...

to replace Republican representative Doug Quelland after he was ousted for violating Clean Election Limits. Yee served as state committeeman for the Arizona Republican Party, chair of the Arizona Legislative District 10 Republican Committee, and delegate for Arizona at the 2008

Republican National Convention The Republican National Convention (RNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1856 by the United States Republican Party. They are administered by the Republican National Committee. The goal of the Repu ...

. As a member of the Arizona House of Representatives in 2011, Kimberly Yee was the sponsor of the "Ultrasound and Heartbeat Bill" to require doctors to provide women the option to see their baby's ultrasound image and hear their baby's heartbeat if it is audible, before proceeding with an abortion. The bill passed and was signed into law. Yee was an invited speaker at the

2016 Republican National Convention The 2016 Republican National Convention, in which delegates of the United States Republican Party chose the party's nominees for president and vice president in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, was held July 18–21, 2016, at Quicken L ...

. Yee represented District 20 in the

from 2013 to 2019. Yee also served as state Senate majority leader from 2017 to 2019. She became the second woman elected to this position in Arizona’s history, following U.S. Justice Sandra Day O’Connor who served the position in 1973, forty-four years earlier. Yee was elected Arizona treasurer on November 6, 2018. In 2018, she implemented Senate Bill 1184, which required college students to pass a course in economics that includes financial literacy and personal finance management in order to graduate. Yee went on to create a statewide literacy task force, a 16-member board assigned the job of identifying the scope of financial literacy and proposing solutions for improvement. As

, Yee was able to distribute the two highest years of earnings in Arizona's history back to back, resulting in less direct taxes for Arizonans to pay. In 2020, $559 million was distributed in investment earnings, and in 2019 $567 million was distributed. Today, assets under Treasurer Yee’s management stands at $24 billion, an increase of over 54 percent in two years. During the 2020 presidential campaign, she served nationally as a Co-Chairwoman of the Asian Pacific Americans for Trump Coalition and as a Member of the Pro-Life Voices for Trump Coalition. Yee wrote an op-ed in support of President Trump and his vision of the American dream. On May 17, 2021, Yee announced her candidacy for Governor of Arizona in the 2022 Arizona gubernatorial election. She later dropped out of the governor's race, running for re-election as Arizona State Treasurer.

Elections

*2010 Challenging House District 10 incumbent Republican representatives Doug Quelland and James Weiers in the four-way August 24, 2010 Republican primary, Representative Weiers placed first, Yee placed second with 6,925 votes, and Representative Quelland placed third; in the November 2, 2010 General election, Yee took the first seat with 19,485 votes and Representative Weiers took the second seat ahead of Democratic nominees former representative Jackie Thrasher and Aaron Jahneke. *2012 With Republican senator John McComish redistricted to District 18, Yee was unopposed for the Senate District 20 August 28, 2012 Republican primary, winning with 15,519 votes; and won the three-way November 6, 2012 General election with 37,371 votes against Democratic nominee Michael Powell and former Republican representative Doug Quelland running as an

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

. *2014 Senate District 20 Yee won reelection against Democratic candidate Patty Kennedy. Yee winning with 25,103 votes against Kennedy's 16,613 votes. *2016 Senate District 20 Yee won reelection against Democratic candidate Larry Herrera. Yee winning 40,122 votes against Herrera's 28,987 votes. *2018 General election for Arizona Treasurer on November 6, 2018, Yee defeated Mark Manoil. *2022 General election Yee won reelection for Arizona Treasurer on November 8, 2022, defeating Martín Quezada.

References

External links

Official page
as state senator in the

Campaign site
* * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Yee, Kimberly 1974 births 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians American politicians of Chinese descent American women of Chinese descent in politics Asian-American people in Arizona politics Republican Party Arizona state senators ASU College of Public Service & Community Solutions alumni Living people Republican Party members of the Arizona House of Representatives Pepperdine University alumni Politicians from Phoenix, Arizona State treasurers of Arizona Women state constitutional officers of Arizona Women state legislators in Arizona Asian conservatism in the United States