{"id":210241,"date":"2026-03-08T10:18:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T10:18:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/210241\/"},"modified":"2026-03-08T10:18:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T10:18:07","slug":"why-democrat-betty-yee-wont-quit-california-governors-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/210241\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Democrat Betty Yee won’t quit California governor’s race"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

OAKLAND\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Betty Yee<\/a> knows what people are thinking<\/a>. She\u2019s heard what they\u2019ve said <\/a>and read the many emails she\u2019s gotten.<\/p>\n

The former state controller has been running for California governor longer than just about anybody in the cheek-by-jowl field<\/a>. And yet the Democrat is bumping along near the bottom, a blip in polls and a laggard in the money chase.<\/p>\n

But no, Yee said, she has no intention of quitting the race, as she\u2019s been urged, and no fear that, by staying in, she\u2019ll help two Republicans advance to November\u2019s runoff, locking Democrats out of the governor\u2019s office<\/a> for the first time since George W. Bush was president<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just don\u2019t see it,\u201d Yee said, given the way Chad Bianco<\/a> and Steve Hilton<\/a>, the top GOP contenders, are smacking each other around<\/a>, hoping to emerge as the undisputed Republican standard-bearer.<\/p>\n

Beyond that, she said, it\u2019s not as if anyone\u2019s running away with the contest; most polls have shown the leading candidate \u2014 which depends on the survey<\/a> \u2014 standing atop the pile with around 20% support.<\/p>\n

That isn\u2019t exactly landslide territory<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe public is still shopping,\u201d Yee said. \u201cIn the next month or so, we\u2019re going to try to get [a TV ad] on the air, basically make our case and hope that can spread as voters are getting more focused on the race.\u201d<\/p>\n

Which is not to say Yee is delusional.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a candidate, I make that assessment every day about whether we\u2019re going to be viable or not,\u201d she said last week, just before stopping by the Alameda County voter registrar\u2018s office to file paperwork for the June 2 primary.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, it\u2019s less than a 50-50 chance,\u201d Yee said, suggesting it\u2019s her job to boost those odds by getting voters to appreciate what she offers, which amounts to unvarnished talk about the challenges facing the next governor and the ways Sacramento \u2014 which has been run for years by fellow Democrats \u2014 isn\u2019t working.<\/p>\n

\u201c \u2018Accountability\u2019 has kind of become a dirty word … where it\u2019s about who we\u2019re going to throw under the bus, rather than stepping back and saying, \u2018What have we gotten for the dollars that we spend and, if we\u2019re not getting those outcomes, how do we do better?\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

Yee served two terms as controller, in effect the state\u2019s chief financial officer, and 10 years before that on the Board of Equalization, which oversees property tax assessments. She\u2019s isn\u2019t trying to buy the governorship, like billionaire Tom Steyer<\/a>, or leverage her political celebrity<\/a>, like cable-TV fixtures Katie Porter<\/a> and Eric Swalwell<\/a>. Instead, Yee is running a grassroots campaign, visiting nearly all 58 California counties and holding as many face-to-face meetings as humanly possible. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m in the trenches,\u201d she said. \u201cI knock on doors every election cycle because to me, that\u2019s the reality check of where people really are in terms of their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Which is certainly an admirable approach, albeit a rather idealistic strategy in a state of nearly 23 million voters, spread over roughly 800 miles from north to south. It would take more than two years of round-the-clock campaigning just to give each and every one a quick handshake.<\/p>\n

The most notable feature of Yee\u2019s candidacy is her message. She\u2019s not selling barn-burning populism or viral take-downs of President Trump \u2014 \u201cI don\u2019t have any gimmicks, I don\u2019t swear, I don\u2019t have a reality-TV show personality\u201d \u2014 but rather practical know-how and a deep understanding of state government.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s almost quaint in today\u2019s theatrical political environment.<\/p>\n

Seated at a sidewalk table outside a coffee stand in downtown Oakland, Yee focused on California\u2019s stretched-thin budget<\/a>, which happens to be her area of expertise.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople ask what would you do in your first days as governor, if you have the privilege of serving,\u201d Yee said, as her butterscotch latte sat cooling. \u201cI\u2019d come clean with the voters about where we are fiscally.\u201d<\/p>\n

After years of surpluses, she said, the state is spending more than it can afford. Facing a structural deficit, the next governor will have to cut programs and raise taxes, not just one or the other, with corporations and California\u2019s richest residents being forced to cough up more. (She\u2019s dubious, however, of a proposed November ballot measure<\/a> imposing a one-time 5% tax on billionaires<\/a>, questioning whether it would stand up in court.)<\/p>\n

Sacramento\u2019s credibility, Yee suggested, is on the line.<\/p>\n

Before any expansive new programs can be implemented \u2014 and she has some notions for how to make life more affordable, increase access to healthcare and create jobs \u2014 Californians have to be convinced their tax dollars are being well spent and delivering proven results. \u201cI would really insist on and invite stricter accountability of what we do with our money,\u201d Yee said.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s not beyond criticizing the current administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, I\u2019ve been termed out as controller since January 2023. I still get calls from companies in the [European Union], Canada, even Mexico about how we want to do business with California. Who do we talk to?\u201d Yee said. \u201cSo I\u2019ll send them over to the governor\u2019s Office of Business Development and they tell me, \u2018Well, we try to call people, but nobody\u2019s answering our call.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

(In response, a spokesman for the Office of Business and Economic Development touted California as \u201ca premier hub for international business\u201d and described foreign trade and investment as major drivers of the state economy.)<\/p>\n

As for Gov. Gavin Newsom, while she supports his teenaged trolling of Trump<\/a>, she said it shouldn\u2019t be done through official channels, , or on the taxpayers\u2019 dime. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to focus on making the state work,\u201d Yee said, \u201cand that\u2019s where I\u2019m more focused on because people … want service delivery<\/a>. They want government to be responsive to their needs. Somebody just pick up the damn phone on the other line to help them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tough medicine, as she described it, and \u201cstabilization\u201d \u2014 which is \u201ckind of my theme\u201d \u2014 won\u2019t make a great many hearts go pit-a-pat. But Yee hopes that straight talk and her distinct lack of ornamentation will count for something with California voters.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe climate now is that people are very drawn by the performative approaches,\u201d she said. \u201cHowever, I think that will change. I want to give [voters] credit, because I do think they are very discerning when they\u2019re ready to mark their ballot.\u201d<\/p>\n

The coming weeks will test that premise. And Yee is staying put.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OAKLAND\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Betty Yee knows what people are thinking. She\u2019s heard what they\u2019ve said and read the many emails she\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":210242,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[387,7,17492,2926,9,8,35459,4194,346,592,8111,2211,225,10020,7585,1522,72,5558],"class_list":{"0":"post-210241","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-california","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-california-county","11":"tag-california-governor","12":"tag-california-headlines","13":"tag-california-news","14":"tag-controller","15":"tag-job","16":"tag-office","17":"tag-people","18":"tag-poll","19":"tag-race","20":"tag-state","21":"tag-state-government","22":"tag-term","23":"tag-voter","24":"tag-year","25":"tag-yee"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210241\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/210242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}