Telepeer

Betty Yee drops out of crowded California governor race

April 20, 2026

Former State Controller Betty Yee, a Democrat who for months struggled to gain traction with voters and was unable to pull herself above the low single digits in various polls, has suspended her campaign for governor.

Yee served as budget director for Gov. Gray Davis before being elected to the California State Board of Equalization. More recently, she was vice chair of the California Democratic Party.

She said her campaign was built on the idea that experience and competence mattered. But those qualifications are no longer priorities for voters, she said.

“People want a personality. We are living in a reality TV era where, to get traction, you have to either be the loudest, you have to have gimmicks, you got to do what you got to do to get attention,” Yee said during a call with reporters on Monday, April 20.

“I got not gimmicks. I have no scandals,” said Yee, who has jokingly called herself “Boring Betty.”

A visibly emotional Yee said Monday that she would not stop fighting for California, just in a different capacity moving forward.

The campaign “is ending today, but my work will not end,” she said, also thanking her family and supporters.

The Democrat noted that there are still competitive House races to be won during the 2026 midterm elections and pointed to threats from the Trump administration to challenge California’s voting system. She said she planned to canvas for certain House races and to do her part to ensure that California’s elections are safe and free of interference.

She also indicated her intent to endorse one of the remaining candidates in the coming days.

Yee said — although she has a good idea about each of the candidates already — she wanted to make sure whoever she endorses aligns with her vision for how to move the state forward.

Her exit, coming about two weeks before ballots land in voters’ mailboxes, means six Democrats remain among the top eight candidates in a crowded contest to replace termed-out Gov. Gavin Newsom. (In all, more than 60 people qualified for the ballot in the race for governor.)

Republicans Steve Hilton, a political commentator, and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco have consistently polled at the top of all the candidates.

Environmental advocate Tom Steyer, former Rep. Katie Porter, and former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra are the top three Democratic candidates, according to an Emerson College poll released last week.

San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond round out the list of main Democratic contenders.

Yee’s decision to bow out of the governor’s race comes about a week after another Democrat, now-former Rep. Eric Swalwell, dropped out amid allegations of sexual misconduct and assault. Swalwell, who also resigned from Congress last week, has repeatedly denied the sexual assault claims and vowed to defend himself against the accusations.

That Emerson College poll of likely voters, released last week, had Hilton leading the field with 17% overall voter support, followed by Bianco and Steyer, who both came in at 14%.

Porter and Becerra were tied in fourth place, at 10%. Becerra, who had previously polled in the low single-digits, saw a surge in voter interest last week, which his campaign attributed to a planned ramp-up of his social media presence and a roll-out of a seven-figure, statewide television and digital advertising buy.

Mahan, Villaraigosa, Yee and Thurmond all polled at 5% or less.

Yee, with 1.4% of voter support in that poll, was the second-lowest polling candidate in the Emerson survey — slightly ahead of Thurmond, who came in at 1%.

Her poll numbers were similar in multiple other surveys, including ones commissioned by the California Democratic Party, whose chair had told low-polling candidates several weeks ago that they should consider dropping out.

Yee on Monday said such polls did have a “chilling effect” on voters’ opinions.

“I think it had some impact for sure. When you have polls for the sole purpose of narrowing the field … that has an effect on donors,” she said.

Yee added that she would like to see reforms to California’s “jungle primary,” where the top two vote-getters in the primary election, regardless of party affiliation, advance to the November runoff.

In addition, she said she’d like the California Democratic Party — where she once served as vice chair — to reconsider its endorsement process. A candidate needs 60% of the delegates’ votes to win an endorsement. This year, the state Democratic Party did not endorse any of the contenders for governor.

The lack of endorsement by the state party, coupled with the fact that some labor unions endorsed multiple candidates for governor this election, caused confusion for voters, Yee said.

Yee’s exit from the race comes after the deadline to file, meaning she will still appear on ballots.

Orange County Register

News Details

Betty Yee drops out of crowded California governor race

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

News

CONTACT INFO

QUICK LINKS

SERVICES

CURRENT NEWS