COLUMBIA – South Carolina voters are choosing between incumbent Treasurer Curtis Loftis and Democrat Vincent Coe in the race for state treasurer amid an ongoing federal securities investigation. The contest centers on which candidate can best address accounting errors that led to the inquiry.
The investigation stems from a series of multibillion-dollar accounting errors that remained on the state’s ledger for nearly a decade. Forensic accountants hired by the state said the errors were a paperwork problem and involved almost no actual money. However, the issue raised concerns at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which has been looking into the matter since at least 2024.
Two of the state’s three top financial officials at the time, including longtime Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom, have resigned since the problems with the state’s books first came to light publicly in early 2023. However, Loftis has remained in office, despite efforts to oust him and an earlier statement that he would not seek re-election.
Loftis has maintained that the error did not occur within his office and none of the cash in the bank that the Treasurer’s Office manages was misspent or lost. Loftis told the SC Daily Gazette, “The error was with the comptroller general’s records. Those records have since been corrected and that office has been the focus of the federal securities investigation.” However, a Senate-led investigation into the matter and subsequent impeachment proceedings against Loftis were less about which office controlled the records and more that Loftis’ office knew and did not alert the General Assembly, instead leaving it to linger.
Loftis said, “There is important work that remains unfinished, and I believe my experience and leadership continue to be valuable to our state.”
Coe, Loftis’ Democratic challenger, agrees the fault does not lie with Loftis alone but said the long-time treasurer did shirk his reporting responsibility. Coe said, “When you have things like this, you have to do a shift or change in leadership to get back on track. Because if you don’t, you’re going to have a continuation and that breeds into mistrust.”
Coe faces an uphill battle as he doesn’t have Loftis’ political following and is running as a Democrat in a state that has not elected a member of that party to statewide office in two decades. Coe said he thinks the Treasurer’s Office should be nonpartisan. He studied finance, risk management and insurance at the University of South Carolina before going to work as a bank examiner with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the U.S. agency that regulates the industry.
