Yee vs. Horne in Primary for School Chief

SBINSIDER REPORTING |May 30th, 2025

Kimberly Yee who is completing her 2nd term and must step down as State Treasurer, has announced that she will be challenging incumbent Tom Horne for the position of State Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Yee’s experience includes being elected to the State Legislature in 2010 rising to Majority Leader and serving as a member of the Legislative Education Committee.

Horne was elected to the Superintendent position in 2003 and then jumped to State Attorney General before losing his re-election to Mark Brnovich. Then in 2022, Horne ran again for Superintendent and won. He also served on the Paradise Valley school board for many years.

Yee is being supported by the Arizona Freedom Caucus led by State Senator Jake Hoffman of LD-15 (Northern Pinal County). Hoffman publicly states that Horne is not supporting the ESA program vigorously enough. Left un-said is the visible aging of Horne who is eighty years old and would be eighty-four if he were to complete his final term.

In response to Yee’s announcement, Horne issued this statement to SBINSIDER:

Since taking office, I’ve grown the ESA program from 12,000 students to nearly 100,000 students, focused on school safety where we increased the number of officers from 80 campuses to almost 600, and been the leading Conservative voice who has fought for our values against our liberal Governor and Attorney General. I didn’t envision that the lone Republican executive officeholder would choose to run against me. I look forward to debating her to ask why she has adopted this new philosophy that would have taxpayer dollars spent on a $15,000 Pinball machine, $5,000 Rolex, $24,000 Golf Simulator, and even a vasectomy kit. We have very few cases of fraud, but the teacher’s union would use each case as a reason to dismantle this successful program.

Yee’s campaign was contacted by SBINSIDER but no reply was made.

The Primary voting will be in July of 2026.