California’s already turbulent gubernatorial race lost another contender on Monday as the June 2 primary draws closer and the field continues to narrow in ways that are reshaping the contest’s competitive dynamics.
Betty Yee — the former California State Controller and a San Francisco Democrat who had been running for nearly two years — announced she is suspending her campaign, citing a combination of stubbornly low poll numbers and a fundraising environment that had simply failed to materialize around her candidacy.
The announcement came just one week after former Rep. Eric Swalwell exited the race under dramatically different and more damaging circumstances — withdrawing amid multiple serious sexual misconduct allegations that triggered the withdrawal of endorsements from prominent Democrats including Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Adam Schiff.
Why Yee Is Stepping Away
Yee’s decision, by contrast, was driven by the sober arithmetic of electoral viability rather than scandal.
Throughout the race, she had struggled to break through in a field defined by better-funded, higher-profile competitors. According to CalMatters, the local nonprofit outlet that has tracked the race closely, Yee never climbed above approximately 3% support among likely voters — a ceiling she was unable to crack despite a campaign that stretched across two years.
The fundraising picture was equally discouraging. In a race characterized by enormous advertising expenditures and donor competition, the money Yee needed to compete at scale simply didn’t arrive.
“It was becoming clear that the donors were not going to be there. Even some of my former supporters just felt like they needed to move on,” Yee said, according to The Associated Press.
She made the announcement in a video statement, framing her departure in terms larger than her own candidacy.
“This campaign has always been about something much bigger than any one candidate,” Yee said, according to Fox 11 Los Angeles. “It’s about building a California where opportunity is real and owned, where government regains trust by being responsible and accountable, and where no one is left behind.”
The announcement was emotional. She took time to thank the supporters who had stood by her campaign — a two-year effort that she had built around her experience managing state finances and her family’s middle-class immigrant background.
Who Betty Yee Was in the Race
Yee brought genuine institutional credentials to her candidacy. Before serving as State Controller — a role in which she audited government agencies and oversaw the distribution of state funds — she had served as a budget director under former Gov. Gray Davis and as an elected member of the State Board of Equalization.
Her campaign had also carried a historic dimension: she was seeking to become California’s first female governor — a milestone that would have been significant in the nation’s most populous state. With her exit, that particular historic possibility now rests with former Rep. Katie Porter, who remains in the race.
A Race Transformed in a Week
The departures of both Swalwell and Yee within seven days of each other have significantly reshuffled a contest that already had considerable complexity built into it.
Swalwell had been the top-polling Democrat in the field at the time of his exit — a frontrunner position now up for grabs. Yee, while never a frontrunner, represented a distinct lane of the Democratic electorate rooted in fiscal competence and government reform.
The remaining Democratic candidates are former Rep. Katie Porter, billionaire Tom Steyer — who has spent heavily on advertising since entering the race in November — and former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.
On the Republican side, conservative commentator and former Fox News host Steve Hilton — who received the endorsement of President Trump — and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco are the two major contenders competing for a top-two primary finish.
Under California’s jungle primary system, all candidates appear on the same ballot regardless of party, with the top two vote-getters — regardless of party affiliation — advancing to the November general election. That structure means the primary outcome could produce any combination of Democratic and Republican finalists.
“Joy Reid Blasts CA Dems for Letting GOP Contenders Take Lead in Governor’s Race” — a headline that reflects the growing anxiety within the Democratic Party about whether the fracturing of their field is creating an opening for Republicans to claim one of the two November spots.
Betty Yee’s exit from the California governor’s race is a quieter departure than Eric Swalwell’s — driven by math rather than scandal, by a donor base that never fully materialized rather than allegations that upended a campaign overnight. But the cumulative effect of two Democratic exits in one week, with the June 2 primary now roughly six weeks away, is a race whose shape has changed dramatically in a very short time. Katie Porter, Tom Steyer, and Xavier Becerra are now competing for Democratic consolidation in a primary where Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco are hoping the Democratic disarray creates an opening neither could have anticipated a month ago.