Arizona State Treasurer Kimberly Yee, who is term-limited, announced on Wednesday that she is running for Superintendent of Public Instruction, challenging incumbent Tom Horne in the Republican primary. Horne, long considered a moderate Republican, recently angered Republicans with his efforts gutting the state’s nationally renowned Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (ESAs) program.
Yee (pictured above) said in her announcement,
For nearly 30 years, I’ve fought for Arizona families and children, delivering real results. As an education policy expert, I helped write the laws in the 1990s that made Arizona the nation’s leader in school choice. As a former Chair of the Senate Education Committee, I fought to protect children from woke ideology and the kind of big government overreach we’re seeing from the current State Superintendent. As Treasurer, I delivered billions in historic new funding for Arizona classrooms. And as a mom, I have fought tirelessly to protect parents’ rights to ensure every child is able to have the best educational opportunities, no matter what their zip code. Our state’s children and their families are too important to be left paying the price for petty political games and empty campaign promises.
After Horne was exposed for decimating the ESA program, State Senator Jake Hoffman (R-Queen Creek), who leads the Arizona Legislature’s Freedom Caucus, set out to find someone to run against him in the Republican primary. He called Horne “the greatest threat to school choice & the ESA program in Arizona.” Hoffman held a press conference with Yee at the state Capitol announcing her campaign.
Horne also recently angered the conservative base by opposing President Donald Trump on illegal immigration measures. Trump officials revoked a Biden-era policy that prevented ICE from entering “sensitive locations” such as churches and schools, where criminal illegal immigrants sometimes hide. The Trump administration said the change was made to go after serious criminals, not children.
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