Betty Yee opens up hours before ending California governor's race campaign

CBS News California Investigates Emotional exit: Betty Yee opens up hours before ending California governor's race campaign .chip { background-image: url('/fly/bundles/cbsnewscore/images/chip-bgd/chip-bgd-cbs-news-california-investigates.jpg'); } By Julie Watts Julie Watts CBS California Investigative Correspondent Julie Watts is a national-award-winning investigative correspondent for CBS News, covering California. Her investigations, Capitol accountability reports, and solutions-oriented journalism air weekly on CBS stations across California. Read Full Bio Julie Watts April 20, 2026 / 9:13 PM EDT / CBS News California Add CBS News on Google Just hours before suspending her campaign in the California governor's race, Betty Yee sat down with CBS News California Investigates for a candid and emotional interview. The former state controller reflected on a race she described as "unpredictable and turbulent," and the difficult realization that she no longer saw a viable path forward.Yee pointed to a combination of hard political realities: polling that showed voters weren't prioritizing experience and competence, a large bloc of undecided voters that never broke her way, and a campaign finance environment where donor support dried up. She also spoke openly about a deeper disappointment: that support from within the Asian American and Pacific Islander community, which she had hoped would rally behind her historic candidacy, never fully materialized.At the same time, Yee pulled back the curtain on the personal toll of the race, describing the emotional strain on her family and the quiet strength of her husband, whom she calls her "superpower." As she steps aside, Yee says the campaign may be ending — but her commitment to public service, and to the communities she fought to represent, is not.Watch Yee's emotional interview An Emotional Exit: Betty Yee opens up hours before dropping out of Governor’s race by CBS LA on YouTube (Click the chapter titles bel...