Kimberly Yee (born February 23, 1974) is an American politician serving as the 45th Arizona state treasurer. 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, she was elected to the

Arizona House of Representatives The Arizona House of Representatives is the lower house of the Arizona Legislature, the state legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Arizona. The upper house is the Arizona Senate, Senate. The House convenes in the le ...

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 (United States), state legislature of the US state of Arizona. The Senate consists of 30 members each representing an average of 219,859 constituents (2009 figure ...

for the 20th legislative district from 2013 until 2019. She was elected to the position of Arizona state treasurer on November 6, 2018. As Treasurer, Kimberly Yee is currently the highest-ranking statewide elected Republican 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 ( ) 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 over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...

; she traces her ancestry to

Taishan, Guangdong Taishan (), postal map romanization, alternately romanization of Chinese, 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 Guangd ...

. 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 university, private Christianity, Christian research university affiliated with the Churches of Christ, with its main campus in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Pepperdine's main campus consists ...

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 university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...

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

Career

Yee worked for California Republican governors

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

and

Arnold Schwarzenegger Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, businessman, former politician, and former professional bodybuilder, known for his roles in high-profile action films. Governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger, ...

. She was then communications director at the office of the

state treasurer of Arizona The state treasurer of Arizona is a constitutional officer in the executive branch of Government of Arizona, government of the U.S. state of Arizona. Forty-five individuals have occupied the office of state treasurer since statehood. The incumbent ...

. Upon the recommendation of Republican Governor

Jan Brewer Janice Kay Brewer (''née'' Drinkwine; born September 26, 1944) is an American politician who served as the 22nd governor of Arizona from 2009 to 2015, as a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party. Prior to this, Brewer ...

, 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. Partisan primary, Primary el ...

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 Republican Party in the United States. They are administered by the Republican National Committee. The goal o ...

. As a member of the Arizona House of Representatives in 2011, Kimberly Yee was the sponsor of the "Ultrasound and Heartbeat Bill" which required doctors to provide women with the option to have an ultrasound image 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 (United States), Republican Party chose the party's nominees for President of the United States, president and Vice President of the United Sta ...

. 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. On November 29, 2017, she announced her candidacy for the position of Arizona state treasurer. Yee was elected Arizona treasurer on November 6, 2018. In 2019, 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. 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. On May 17, 2021, Yee announced her candidacy for Governor of Arizona in the

2022 Arizona gubernatorial election The 2022 Arizona gubernatorial election occurred on November 8, 2022, to elect the next governor of Arizona, concurrently with other federal and state elections. Incumbent Republican Governor Doug Ducey was term-limited and ineligible t ...

. She later dropped out of the governor's race, running for re-election as Arizona State Treasurer. On May 28, 2025, Yee announced she would challenge incumbent Republican state superintendent

Tom Horne Thomas Charles Horne (born March 28, 1945) is an American politician, attorney, businessman, and activist who has served as the Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction since 2023 and previously from 2003 to 2011. A member of the Republican P ...

in the 2026 Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction election. She announced her campaign alongside

state senator A state senator is a member of a State legislature (United States), state's senate in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a member of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature. History There are typically fewer state senators than there ...

Jake Hoffman and listed expanding

school choice School choice is a term for education options that allow students and families to select alternatives to traditional public schools. School choice options include scholarship tax credit programs, open enrollment laws (which allow students to att ...

and

school voucher A school voucher, also called an education voucher in a voucher system, is a certificate of government funding for students at schools chosen by themselves or their parents. Funding is usually for a particular year, term, or semester. In some cou ...

programs as goals.

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 Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

. *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 members of the Arizona State Legislature 21st-century American women politicians American politicians of Chinese descent American women of Chinese descent in politics Asian-American state legislators in Arizona Republican Party Arizona state senators Watts 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