JoinCalifornia: Election History for the State of California

Information Home Elected Offices Elections by Decade Longest Service Shortest Service Most & Fewest Votes Uncontested Races Closest Contests Redistricting Recalls
Elections 2024 General 2024 CD-20 Special 2023 US Senate Appt 2022 General Prior 2020s Elections Elections by Decade
Other Stuff Advanced Search CA Constitution CA in Congress Line of Succession Highest Ranking SCOTUS Cases

[search tips] [advanced search]

Searching tips

  • Enter a candidate's name to find a candidate
  • Enter the name of a political party to find the party and all candidates
  • Enter a date to find an election
  • Enter a year to find all elections within that year

Leland Yee

Democratic

Picture of Leland Yee
State Assembly website
Date Party Office Votes Result
11-05-2002 Democratic AD-12 72166 Win
11-02-2004 Democratic AD-12 112000 Win
11-07-2006 Democratic SD-08 179556 Win
11-02-2010 Democratic SD-08 197070 Win
 

Candidate Biography:

Leland Yin Yee
Born: November 20, 1948 in Guangdong, China
Married: Maxine
Children: Nicole, Kevin, Michelle, and Jason

1988-1996: Member, San Francisco Unified School District Board of Education
1996-2002: Member, San Francisco Board of Supervisors
2004-2006: Speaker pro Tem, California State Assembly
2011: Candidate for Mayor of San Francisco (Lost; 7.5%)
2012: Delegate, Democratic National Convention
2014: Primary Candidate for Secretary of State (Lost; 9.4%)

  • Supreme Court Decision: In June 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a law authored by Yee, AB 1179 (2005), was unconstitutional. The law, which banned the sale of violent video games to minors, was found to violate the first Amendment. (Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association, 08-1448)
  • Legal Troubles: Yee's office was raided by FBI agents on the morning of March 26, 2014. The same day, Leland Yee was indicted on seven charges including wire fraud, conspiracy to deal firearms without a license and conspiracy to illegally import firearms. On April 1, 2014, the FBI executed a search of another office used by Yee staffers in the Legislative Office Building (LOB). On July 25th, a federal grand jury added three new racketeering charges to Yee's existing indictment. The three charges included one count of "conspiracy to conduct the affairs of an enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity," and two counts of "conspiracy to obtain property under the color of official right." On July 1, 2015, Yee changed his plea to "Guilty" for the racketeering charge. On February 24, 2016, Yee was sentenced to five years in prison. 
  • His Federal Bureau of Prisons Register number was 19629-111 and he was incarcerated at Fort Worth FCI (in 2017) and Big Spring FCI (2019). Although his original release date was 7/31/2020, it had since late 2019 been moved up to 6/26/2020.
  • WORTH NOTING: Charles R. Breyer (U. S. District Court, Northern District of California) who served as the judge in the 2015 corruption case against State Senator Leland Yee, clerked for Judge Oliver J. Carter (a former State Senator) in 1966-67.
  • LEGISLATIVE PUNISHMENT: Senators Ron Calderon, Rod Wright, and Leland Yee were placed on involuntary paid suspension by the State Senate on March 28, 2014. Yee remained on suspension until his term in office ended on November 30, 2014.

Source: California Legislature Handbook (2003-04)
Source: "Court: California Can't Ban Violent Video Game Sales" by NPR Staff, National Public Radio (6/27/2011)