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Curtis Loftis
Curtis M. Loftis Jr. (born September 8, 1958) is an American politician, businessman and philanthropist. He currently serves as the Treasurer of South Carolina. A member of the Republican Party, Loftis has held elective office since 2010. Early life and educationLoftis was born in Columbia, South Carolina. He attended Brookland-Cayce High School and graduated from the University of South Carolina in 1981. Loftis was twice elected president of the Student Senate and served as president of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. CareerBusiness and philanthropy Loftis is the owner of several central South Carolina businesses and is involved in real estate. In 1999, Loftis established Saluda Charitable Foundation[1] and remains the principal benefactor.[2] The foundation's activities are faith-based and provide nutritional and housing services to orphans and the elderly.[3] SCF provided over 500,000 meals to the needy and supported medical missions in Haiti. Treasurer of South CarolinaIn March 2010, Loftis announced his candidacy for Treasurer of South Carolina in the Republican primary.[4] Loftis characterized himself as a conservative reform candidate.[5] Loftis was endorsed by former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney,[6] former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum,[7] and former US Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. Loftis received many state Tea Party movement endorsements including many in the business community and several newspaper endorsements. On June 8, 2010, Loftis defeated the incumbent State Treasurer, Converse Chellis in the Republican Primary with 62% of the vote,[8] carrying all of the state's 46 counties.[9] Treasurer Loftis became the first Republican to defeat a sitting incumbent in a statewide GOP primary.[10] In 2024, Loftis became embroiled in a battle over who was responsible for $1.8 billion that was left sitting in state accounts for several years, unbeknownst to legislators, some of whom wanted to remove him from office. The money never had been properly distributed to state agencies because, Loftis said, it did not have the required codes when it was put into a special account during a software transition. Legislators were alerted to the $1.8 billion by the state's new comptroller general. [11] State law requires the treasurer to publish quarterly reports showing which banks hold state funds.[12] But when Loftis, under intense questioning from legislators, threatened to publish a report online that contained state bank account numbers, the attorney general prepared to go to the state Supreme Court to block that. Loftis backed down after calls from the chief of the State Law Enforcement Division and Gov. Henry McMaster. [13] [14] Loftis has said he would not seek reelection in 2026.[15] 2014 electionTreasurer Loftis won the Primary with a 62% of the vote and was unopposed in the general election to remain the State Treasurer. 2018 electionTreasurer Curtis Loftis defeated Rosalyn Glenn (D) and Sarah Work (American Party) in the general election on November 6, 2018. 2022 electionTreasurer Curtis Loftis had no primary opponent and as such was automatically the Republican nominee. No Democratic candidate filed to challenge Treasure Loftis, and he defeated Sarah Work (American Party) in the general election on November 8, 2022. The election results were 1,129,961 (79.67%) for Loftis vs. 281,695 (19.86%) for Work.[16] OfficeThe Treasurer is the sole investor of the Local Government Investment Pool, (LGIP) the South Carolina Future Scholar 529 Fund and the excess funds of the state. Treasurer Loftis is the Vice Chairman of the State Fiscal Accountability Authority. Treasurer Loftis is Chairman of the Board of Financial Institutions which supervises state chartered financial institutions and supervises mortgage originators and lenders, finance companies, pay day lenders, and title lenders. He is a member of the South Carolina Retirement System Investment Commission, which manages the $27 billion fund and a member of the South Carolina Education Authority. Other involvement in politicsTreasurer Loftis served as State Chairman of Mitt Romney's 2012 campaign in South Carolina. Treasurer Loftis served as the Chairman of South Carolina's delegation to the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fl.[17] COVID-19 Pandemic Facebook PostOn June 5, 2020, during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests and immediately following the COVID-19 quarantine, Loftis posted criticism of Black Lives Matter in a Facebook post, expressing support for several far-right conspiracy theories, including forced-human-microchipping, health passports, and toxic vaccinations.[18] Electoral history
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