By admin 
In the race for South Carolina treasurer, the four-term incumbent is running against a challenger with 20 years of financial experience.
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Why is this race noteworthy in 2026?
The treasurer’s office has been under fire in recent years over a $1.8 billion accounting error that had been on the books for years. Accountants initially didn’t know what agency or agencies the money belonged to. But a forensic audit determined the money never existed and was a product of an accounting system switch carried out by the state years ago.
Among its duties, the office invests state and local government cash while maintaining liquidity, issues and manages debt for state agencies, and oversees the state’s programs for unclaimed property, college savings, and savings for people with disabilities. The job pays $164,000 a year.
Who is the Republican nominee?
South Carolina Treasurer Curtis Loftis is running for a fifth term in the office. He was first elected in 2010.
Loftis canceled two interviews for this article because of scheduling conflicts. He however provided a statement to The State.
In the statement Loftis touted how his office generated $1.7 billion in investment earnings for the state and local governments, returned $52 million in unclaimed property to state residents and how the state’s college savings plan reached $8.5 billion in assets.
However, Loftis and his office had been the main focus of hearings over the $1.8 billion accounting error.
“The $1.8 billion was an issue with accounting records, not cash in the bank that the Treasurer’s Office manages. The error was in the Comptroller General’s records, and that’s where it was corrected,” Loftis said in a statement.
The hearings, led by state Sen. Larry Grooms, R-Berkeley, were combative between the panel of senators and Loftis.
During one of the hearings in 2024, Loftis said he would not run for reelection. A year later, on the day the Senate introduced a resolution to remove him from office, Loftis announced his reelection bid.
The Republican-controlled state Senate voted 33-8 to oust Loftis from office, but the resolution never moved in the House.
In June 2025, the accounting corrections were made with outside forensic auditors and Department of Administration officials present, Loftis said. Verification tests also took place.
“The treasurer’s office did not make those entries,” Loftis said. “The corrections did not change the cash and investments held in our custody. They changed the state’s accounting records, not the amount of money in the bank.”
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Loftis easily advanced to the general election as no Republican challenged him for the nomination.
“Over the last year, I’ve traveled South Carolina, spending time with people where they live and work,” Loftis said. “Their message is clear: They are tired of government waste, fraud and abuse, and they want me to keep fighting to protect their money and their rights.”
Who is the Democratic nominee?
Vincent Coe, of Florence, has worked in finance for 20 years.
Coe defeated former SC Democratic Party Chairman Trav Robertson for the nomination.
He previously served as vice president and as the fair lending and community reinvestment act officer at United Community bank in Greenville and had two stints with the FDIC as a financial institutions specialist.
He decided to run for the office after seeing the repeated headlines about the $1.8 billion accounting error and the effort to remove Loftis.
“Managing any sum of money, any amount of money, requires a certain knowledge, a certain skill set, a certain temperament, and I just certainly believe that having that insight into sort of the nuts and bolts of running banks, really from a from an operation standpoint, and certainly from a regulatory standpoint, that’s squarely within looks at my domain of experience,” Coe said.
In an interview, Coe said a banker should be respectful and be able to have an open dialogue with others. He doesn’t want to come off as brazen and abrasive.
“That doesn’t send a signal that I may not really get the seriousness of the role itself,” Coe said.
Who has the cash advantage?
Loftis, who is independently wealthy, has pumped $81,000 of his own money into his campaign, and has taken out a $25,000 loan for his reelection bid, as of June 30. He had $10,101 cash on hand.
As of the end of the second quarter, Coe had a negative cash balance of $341 in his campaign account, according to state ethics commission records.
Coe said he’s thankful for the donors who have been able to contribute to his campaign in a political climate where affordability has become the overarching theme of the election season.
“I want folks to understand that I didn’t get in the race to be the top fundraiser or be the person to bring in the most amount of money,” Coe said. “I come from a world of banking and I know how to make money and I know what it takes to make money, but also know that times are very hard right now.”
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