About — votebenyee

Meet Ben Yee

Ben Yee is a lifelong New Yorker, political reformer, and candidate for State Assembly in Lower Manhattan. Ben is a product of New York’s public schools, including P.S. 234, East Side Middle, and Bronx Science.

His commitment to protecting democracy is deeply personal: he is the son of a first-generation Chinese American father and a Jewish immigrant mother whose family survived the Holocaust and moved to the US as refugees after WWII.

Modernizing Government

Ben has spent his career at the intersection of politics, government, and technology, working to make systems work better for people. He got his start as the NY State Digital Director for the 2008 Obama Campaign. Afterward, he moved to the NY State Senate where he helped pull state government into the digital age.

Since then, Ben has worked with good government nonprofits and civic startups to strengthen our democracy. Most recently, he's focused on the education crisis, joining an EdTech startup during the Pandemic to build virtual classrooms and AI tools that help close the post-COVID learning gap for students.

A Record of Real Reform

For over a decade, Ben has led successful efforts to open up New York’s powerful and opaque Democratic Party. As Secretary of the Manhattan Democratic Party, he pushed it to become the most transparent County Party in the State of New York.

In 2016, Ben was elected to the New York State Democratic Committee, representing lower Manhattan on the State Party governing board. In that role, he's become one of the central figures of the reform coalition, building strong alliances with upstate Committee Members and County Chairs, and serving as the go-to mentor for empowering new Committee Members with guidance on Party process and parliamentary procedure.

As one of the most well-known and active members, Ben has been able to pass more reforms in the State Committee than any member in over decade. His wins include requiring the attendance of Committee members to be made public, publication of all passed proposals on the Democratic Party website, having the Party call on legislators to ban law-enforcement from working with ICE, and having the Democratic Party support age-appropriate consent education in public schools.

Empowering the Community.

As one of the most well-known and active members, Ben has been able to pass more reforms in the State Committee than any member in over a decade. His wins include requiring the attendance of Committee members to be made public, publication of all passed proposals on the Democratic Party website, having the Party call on legislators to bar law-enforcement from working with ICE, and having the Democratic Party support age-appropriate consent education in public schools.

"Real change doesn't come from the top down—it comes from the neighbors and organizers standing beside you."

-Ben Yee

Ben in Bullets: 17 Years of Activism

LEADERSHIP IN GRASSROOTS ACTIVISM

Founder & Director, You Matter Nation

In response to Donald Trump’s devastating win in 2016, Ben founded You Matter Nation.

• He organized the first large-scale resistance event in NYC. 800+ people showed up after the election to learn about what happened and what they could do.

• Ben spent four years giving talks around NYC to schools, universities, and grassroots groups about government, organizing, and local politics, reaching over 8,000 future leaders.

• He inspired hundreds of people to join or found local political groups and run for office.

Elected Leader,
Young Democrats

• VP, Young Democrats of America: Recruited and led a volunteer tech team to rebuild the organization’s digital infrastructure, successfully saving the national body from bankruptcy.

• President, Manhattan Young Democrats: Created the award-winning Learning Labs, providing young activists with specialized training in data science, graphic design, and political Spanish.

• VP, Manhattan Young Dems: Launched the first Open Seat Project, a landmark initiative that successfully recruited and elected 68 young leaders to the New York County Committee.

• VP, Manhattan Young Dems: ran the first online petition in support of Marriage Equality after the bill was initially voted down, mobilizing thousands of New Yorkers and generating the national pressure needed to pass the historic bill.

Organizer /Activist,
Occupy Wall Street

Ben worked to bring the energy of Occupy Wall Street into the political mainstream by convincing Democratic Party leadership to engage directly with activists at Zuccotti Park.

• Organizing Against Inequality: Led voter registration drives and mass petitioning efforts against hydrofracking and the billionaire-class tax cuts of the Cuomo administration.

• Empowering the Electorate: Founded the OWS Electoral Politics Working Group, creating a framework to transform economic grief into sustained political action through candidate recruitment and voter education.

Open Government Advocate,
Reinvent Albany

With Reinvent Albany, Ben championed government reforms and transparency.

• National Technology Research: Authored comprehensive white papers analyzing nationwide best practices for state-level technology use, providing a roadmap for New York to modernize its digital infrastructure.

• Improving Service Delivery: Developed strategic frameworks for deploying technology to bridge the gap between bureaucracy and residents, focusing on making government services more transparent, accessible, and efficient.

PARTY REFORM LEADERSHIP

Democratic State Committee Member

Ben has built and led the largest coalition of reform-minded State Committee members, forging unprecedented alliances between downstate activists and upstate County Chairs.

• Proactive Upstate Engagement: Established a culture of trust with rural leaders by organizing the first annual downstate delegation to the Democratic Rural Conference, bridging the regional divide for six consecutive years.

• Champion of Transparency: Authored and passed the most significant updates to Party Rules in a decade, mandating that meetings be live-streamed and that all resolutions, attendance, and voting records be made public for the first time.

• Setting the Progressive Agenda: Passed more policy resolutions than any other member in over ten years, successfully putting the State Party on record for defeating the IDC (Independent Democratic Conference) and supporting their challengers, designating New York as a Sanctuary State for immigrants, and mandating consent and bodily autonomy education in New York schools.

Secretary,
Manhattan Democratic Party

After running the Open Seat Project and getting new members elected to New York’s County Committee, Ben was elected Secretary of the County Democratic Party where he continued his commitment to grassroots organizing and good government.

• Modernizing Party Communication: Built and launched the first website and social media channels for the Manhattan Democratic Party, establishing a digital standard that other county organizations across NYC eventually followed.

• Radical Transparency in Leadership: Pioneered the live-streaming of all County Party and Executive Board proceedings, ending the era of closed-door meetings and opening the party's internal functions to the public for the first time.

• Democratic Education & Empowerment: Designed and led comprehensive training programs for County Committee members and local Democratic Clubs to demystify party structures and provide activists with the tools to navigate and influence the political system.

POLITICS & GOVERNMENT

Digital Strategy Director,
NY State Senate

Ben joined the Senate CIO’s unit to modernize the chamber’s digital infrastructure, helping turn one of the nation’s most opaque legislative bodies into an award-winning model of open government.

• Fiscal Stewardship and Taxpayer Savings: Implemented innovative technology solutions that saved the Senate $1.3 million in its first year alone.

• Expanding Public Access to Power: Directed the adoption of live-streaming for Senate sessions and social media integration, ensuring that legislative proceedings were accessible to every New Yorker in real-time.

• Modernizing Legislative Tools: Led the design and rollout of the Senate’s modern website, the first individual Senator websites, and digital CRM systems to streamline communication between elected officials and their constituents.

Digital Director,
Obama '08

Ben was recruited to lead the digital strategy for the general election in New York, where he pioneered tech-driven grassroots organizing.

• Digital Infrastructure & Team Leadership: Built and managed a dedicated team responsible for the campaign’s data analysis, social media, and web presence.

• Grassroots Training: Designed and led digital organizing workshops at "Camp Obama" events, empowering local volunteers with the tools to mobilize their communities online.

• A New Model for Power: Honed a lifelong approach to grassroots power by using technology to scale personal engagement and bridge the gap between digital activism and traditional organizing.

PRIVATE SECTOR CAREER

Chief of Staff,
Pencil Spaces

Recruited to lead operations for a VC-backed education technology startup, where he spearheaded the development of AI-driven tools and remote learning platforms designed to close the educational gaps worsened by the pandemic.

Civic Tech Entreprenuer

Founded and consulted for startups like Shift Spark, dedicated to building digital tools that lower the barrier to civic participation and modernize the way residents interact with their local government.

Advised numerous political campaigns and mission-driven organizations on technology infrastructure, helping them scale their grassroots power and digital outreach to reach a 21st-century electorate.