Born and raised in Arizona, Treasurer Kimberly Yee is the first Asian American elected to a statewide office in Arizona’s history. She is also the first Chinese American Republican woman to win a major statewide office in the history of the United States.

Treasurer Kimberly Yee

Treasurer Yee is a graduate of Pepperdine University where she earned degrees in English and Political Science and she holds a master’s degree in Public Administration from Arizona State University.

Kimberly Yee was born and raised in Arizona. She graduated from Pepperdine University with degrees in English and political science and holds a master's degree in public administration from Arizona State University.

TREASURER KIMBERLY YEE | AZ Treasury Office

Personal Information:
Home City: Phoenix
Occupation: Small business owner and former Deputy Cabinet Secretary
Member Since: 2010

Arizona State Senate Member Profile: Kimberly Yee

In 2004, Kimberly was appointed by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger as Deputy Cabinet Secretary and was a member of Governor Schwarzenegger’s Cabinet. She served as the Governor’s liaison to the executive branch state agencies and provided policy advisement to the Governor in the areas of K-12, vocational, and higher education, state and consumer services, and labor and workforce development.

Prior to elective office, Kimberly earned a distinguished career in public policy and governmental service. She served as Director of Communications and Government Affairs for Arizona State Treasurer Dean Martin promoting fiscal conservative principles to protect taxpayers.

In Arizona, Kimberly served as senior staff of the Senate Committee on Education for the Arizona Legislature from 1998 to 2003 where she established long-standing professional relationships with Arizona’s legislative leaders during her tenure, and gained first-hand experience in the legislative process where she drafted Arizona statutes, improving the state’s public education system, including charter schools, colleges and universities.

Kimberly Yee is a small business owner. She previously served as Deputy Cabinet Secretary in California, director of communications and government affairs for Arizona State Treasurer Dean Martin, and a senior staff member for the Arizona Legislature's Senate Committee on Education.

Senator Kimberly Yee - Arizona Legislature

Arizona State TreasurerMeet Treasurer Kimberly Yee

Kimberly Yee is the State Treasurer of Arizona. She is Arizona's chief banking and investment officer and oversees the cash management of Arizona's $64.7 billion state budget and payments to agencies, local governments and schools.

Upon taking office in January 2019, assets under management were at $15.4 billion. Today, assets under management have nearly doubled to $30.6 billion.

Biography for Arizona State Treasurer Kimberly Yee

Born and raised in Arizona, Treasurer Kimberly Yee is the first Asian American elected to a statewide office in Arizona’s history. She is also the first Chinese American Republican woman to win a major statewide office in the history of the United States. In 2010, she became the first Asian American woman elected to the Arizona Legislature and served for eight years, both in the House and the Senate.

Kimberly serves as Arizona's state treasurer, an office she assumed in January 2019. She was elected to the Arizona Legislature in 2010 and served for eight years in the House and Senate.

2026 Arizona General Election

According to her campaign, Yee's education vision includes a Back to Basics approach featuring phonics-based reading instruction, traditional mathematics, home economics and shop classes. She also supports vocational education and redirecting more funding from administration directly into classrooms.

Kimberly Yee wins GOP primary for Arizona schools superintendent

Yee also said that the Department of Education needs “fresh, new ideas,” a not so subtle reference to the fact that Horne was state schools chief between 2003 and 2010 and got the job back in 2023 after a stint as attorney general. And she has an idea of what that includes.

“It’s very clear that we need to bring phonics back into the classroom for reading instruction,” Yee said, a reference to a method of teaching reading and writing that focuses on identifying the sounds of letters or groups of letters.

“Every school in Arizona teaches phonics,” Horne responded. “And it’s been the law since 2008.”

Horne vs. Yee: Republican opponents square off over state education, ESA fraud

Supports traditional mathematics, home economics, and shop classes as part of a “Back to Basics” curriculum.

Supports phonics-based reading instruction in Arizona classrooms.

- Supports traditional mathematics, home economics, and shop classes as part of a “Back to Basics” curriculum.
- Supports phonics-based reading instruction in Arizona classrooms.

School Curriculum

List your top 3-5 priorities to eliminate government waste.
Funds should be reduced from school district administration and directed to classroom spending, where it impacts students and teachers. Underused and vacant school district buildings due to rapid declining enrollment should be available for lease or purchase by charter schools and private schools at fair market value. Taxpayers should have better fiscal transparency on how dollars are budgeted and spent after receiving local, state and federal funds, including bonds and overrides.

Voter Guide Profile for AZ Superintendent of Public Instruction candidate - Kimberly Yee

Supports redirecting funds from school district administration to classroom spending.

Calls for greater taxpayer transparency in school budgeting and spending, including bond and override funds.

- Supports redirecting funds from school district administration to classroom spending.
- Calls for greater taxpayer transparency in school budgeting and spending, including bond and override funds.

School Facilities & Resources

##### VALUES
Government should recognize and support the fundamental right and essential duty of parents to direct their child's health and educational well-being.
Strongly Agree

Supports parents’ authority to direct their children’s health and educational well-being.

- Supports parents’ authority to direct their children’s health and educational well-being.

Student Wellbeing

As of October 11, 2026, Kimberly Yee’s website did not contain information on this issue.

Teachers

“Together, we will protect and expand school choice so that every child in Arizona has the opportunity to receive a high-quality education—no matter what educational environment they choose,” Yee said. “Parents deserve the best education for their child.”

“Arizona is a place I love and where I was born and raised. It’s our state to protect and preserve for children and families. During my time in elected office, it has been a blessing to get to know thousands of hardworking Arizonans, and in our time together, I’ve found a shared vision for our state — a secure border, safe neighborhoods, a strong economy, individual freedoms protected, and a world-class education for their children.
Arizona children deserve a State Superintendent who will deliver real results, and that includes someone who will fight to protect their educational freedom – I am that candidate.”
– Kimberly Yee

Kimberly Yee for Arizona

Supports protecting and expanding school choice across educational environments.

Supports making underused and vacant district school buildings available for charter and private schools to lease or purchase at fair market value.

- Supports protecting and expanding school choice across educational environments.
- Supports making underused and vacant district school buildings available for charter and private schools to lease or purchase at fair market value.

Kimberly Yee

School Curriculum

School Facilities & Resources

Student Wellbeing

Teachers

Access to Education