Kimberly Yee
HB 2828: Yee introduced this bill, which bans abortions of fetuses more than 20 weeks old, as a member of the state House of Representatives in 2012. It became law in 2014, but was struck down by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
SB 1443: This bill, signed into law in 2013, allows medical marijuana research on college campuses. Yee also blocked the hearing of HB 2333, which proposed using money from Arizona’s medical marijuana program to fund research at the University of Arizona on marijuana’s efficacy in treating PTSD.
SB 1267: Yee co-sponsored this feel-good education bill, which requires state-funded community colleges to credit current or former members of the U.S. military with academic credit for active-duty service. Governor Doug Ducey signed the bill in May.
“I’ll get something messy if you get something messy,” Kimberly Yee says.
The state senator is perusing the menu at Nellie Cashman’s Monday Club Café at The Westin Kierland Resort, unsure about getting a saucy noodle salad until I express interest in the tacos. Once we agree messy is OK, our talk turns to the restaurant’s namesake – nurse, restaurateur and church-builder Nellie Cashman, who made the hardscrabble town of Tombstone a slightly more charitable place in the 1880s. “I think it’s appropriate that we’re sitting in Nellie Cashman’s, because she represented a strong, Arizona trailblazing spirit,” Yee says. “And I hope that one day I might be able to make a small mark in Arizona’s history the way she has.”
The first Asian-American woman elected to the Arizona Legislature, Yee, 42, is already making her mark. Seeking her third term this November, she is considered a rising star in the Republican Party. She’s been endorsed by conservative talk show host Hugh Hewitt, former Maricopa County Attorneys Bill Montgomery and Rick Romley, and former U.S. Senator Jon Kyl. She was a delegate at the 2008 Republican National Convention and spoke at the 2016 RNC, sharing the story of her Chinese immigrant family and voicing support for Donald Trump. “It was truly an honor of a lifetime,” she says.
Yee espouses views that have become synonymous with the GOP: fiscally conservative, a churchgoing Christian, pro-life; she opposes gay marriage and wants to repeal Obamacare. Her legislative work ranges from pragmatically bipartisan to unapologetically right-wing (see sidebar).
Yet Yee doesn’t exude partisanship – for a policy firebrand, in fact, she’s quite approachable. A wife and mother of two young boys, she talks about her love of art and interior design (she paints with acrylics on canvas), and has played classical piano since age 5. She comes from a working-class family, born and raised in the legislative district she currently serves– District 20, which encompasses most of Glendale and a chunk of Northwest Phoenix. She says things like “You have to be a mediator in politics” and “I would prefer to hear from a real constituent, rather than a paid lobbyist.”
Could Yee be a balancer within the Republican Party, and a bridge-builder to Democrats? Katie Hobbs, Democratic senator for District 24, says Yee possesses qualities that can help unify a conflicted Republican Party. “She is someone who will be really focused on keeping the party together,” Hobbs says. “Her positions… are pretty extreme. But in general, I don’t see her as an extreme person.”
“Securing our borders” is part of Yee’s platform, but she’s indirect when asked if, as a minority, she’s ever uncomfortable with the GOP’s immigration rhetoric. “We have to think through the policy very carefully, and with as many people at the table as possible,” she says. “We have to be compassionate about what the end result… is going to be, because we’re talking about real people and real families. At the same time, we have to look at all of the history of individuals who have stood in line, and have followed the law.”
Yee’s list of issues includes less controversial topics, like small business and education (see sidebar), imbued by her family background. Her grandparents owned one of the first Chinese grocery stores in Phoenix. Her mother was a teacher in the poor, underserved Phoenix Elementary School District. Yee, the middle of three daughters, recalls cleaning out their closets to donate to the classroom, because most of the students needed clothing.
Yee graduated from Greenway High School and double-majored in English and political science at Pepperdine University. She earned her master’s degree in public administration from Arizona State University, and worked as an education policy analyst for California Governor Pete Wilson and Deputy Cabinet Secretary for his successor, Arnold Schwarzenegger. “It was really great to work with Gov. Schwarzenegger and his team, which was a combination of people from Gov. Wilson’s day, and there were people from Hollywood, and there were longtime friends of the governor and the governor’s wife,” Yee says.
In 2006, Yee returned to Arizona, became chair of the Republican Committee in her district, and met husband Nelson Mar, a Phoenix dentist. “On our first date, I had to get something out of my trunk, and I had a ton of campaign signs in [it],” she says. “Who would have guessed that years later, he would have a trunk full of signs, but they would have my name on them?”
Around this time, State Senator Linda Gray suggested Yee run for her seat at the end of her fourth term. “I remember getting chills,” Yee says. “It was a pivotal moment, where she really made me think about… [running] for office someday. I did have to think about it and pray about it for a while – it was five years before I really felt that door was open [and] I was comfortable.”
Yee served two years in the Arizona House of Representatives before becoming senator in 2012. Reelected in 2014, she’s almost certain to carry the seat on November 8, running against Democrat Larry Herrera in one of the state’s reddest districts. Term-limited after the 2018 elections, she could run for U.S. Congress in 2020. Yee – the favorite to replace Andy Biggs as Senate majority leader this winter – is philosophical for now: “Whatever door is open for me, I will certainly consider those options.”
And if her party’s nominee becomes President Trump and starts making calls to politically tested supporters from the RNC?
Yee chuckles. “I will certainly answer that call.”
