Latest news with #StateTreasurer
Yahoo
08-08-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis drops out of California governor's race
The Brief California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis has dropped out of the 2026 gubernatorial race. She will instead run for State Treasurer, citing a desire to focus on the state's financial future. Kounalakis, who was polling at 3%, is barred from seeking a third term as lieutenant governor. LOS ANGELES - California's Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis has announced she is ending her campaign for governor in the 2026 election and will instead seek the position of state treasurer. What we know On Friday, Kounalakis announced that she is withdrawing from the 2026 gubernatorial race to run for state treasurer. Kounalakis, a Democrat who in 2018 became the first woman elected as California's lieutenant governor, is barred from seeking a third term in her current post. RELATED: CA Governor Race: Who is running to replace Newsom The current state treasurer, Fiona Ma, is also term-limited and is running for lieutenant governor. The field for treasurer also includes former Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, California State Board of Equalization member Tony Vazquez, and Senator Anna Caballero. The backstory A poll released Friday by Emerson College Polling showed Kounalakis with 3% of the vote for governor, tying with former Secretary of Health and Human Services and state Attorney General Xavier Becerra. Former Rep. Katie Porter led the poll with 18%, and former Fox News Channel host Steve Hilton was second with 12%. SUGGESTED: Kamala Harris says she will not run for California governor Kounalakis previously worked for her family's housing development firm and served as the United States ambassador to Hungary from 2010 to 2013. What they're saying In a statement, Kounalakis said, "after careful consideration and reflection, I have made the decision to end my campaign for governor and to run instead for state treasurer in 2026." She added that she believes she can "make the greatest impact by focusing on California's financial future," and that as state treasurer, she will bring a "deep commitment to fiscal responsibility, economic opportunity and strategic investment in our state's priorities from affordable housing and clean energy to infrastructure and education." Big picture view The role of the state treasurer is to act as California's lead asset manager, banker, and financier. The treasurer also chairs or serves on numerous state authorities, boards, and commissions. SUGGESTED: New effort to recall Gov. Newsom now underway following LA fires Kounalakis's decision to run for this position, along with Fiona Ma's run for lieutenant governor, sets up a new political dynamic for California's 2026 statewide races. The Source This article is based on a public statement released by Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis and a gubernatorial poll from Emerson College Polling. Additional details on the candidates and the treasurer's role were compiled from existing public records. Solve the daily Crossword
Reuters
04-06-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Vanguard new ex-China ETF followed push from Missouri Republicans
June 3 (Reuters) - Investment manager Vanguard's new exchange-traded fund targeting emerging markets outside of China appears to have followed a push from the Missouri State Treasurer's office for products excluding Chinese stocks. The product highlights a new front in the decoupling of economic links between the U.S. and China as a result of the trade war U.S. President Donald Trump has begun between the world's two largest economies. Vanguard filed on May 30 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to launch the Vanguard Emerging Markets Ex-China ETF. Vivek Malek, Missouri's Treasurer, told Reuters the announcement came six weeks after a series of requests and meetings with Vanguard, a claim backed by letters and e-mails reviewed by Reuters. Malek successfully pushed for the state's pension fund to divest from publicly traded Chinese stocks in December 2023 and also pressed for a China-free fund option for the state's $4.5 billion 529 educational savings plan in an April 14 letter to the plan's program manager working with Vanguard. "I believe we moved the needle in the direction that helped them reach this decision," Malek said. Vanguard did not directly comment on Malek's statements, citing quiet period restrictions on discussing fund products still under SEC review. A Vanguard spokesman said the firm's goal is to offer investors of all kinds of lower-cost options. Had Vanguard not filed for its ex-China ETF when it did, the firm risked losing its position as the main provider of investment products in the state's 529 plan, Malek said. Next year, Missouri will be reconsidering which asset managers will be entrusted with those savings, and one of the conditions any firm must meet will be offering a fund that excludes Chinese stocks, Malek said. Ex-China ETFs have been launched with growing frequency within the last three years, according to Morningstar, and Vanguard's ETF would bring the total to 13, four of which debuted in 2024. Like other Republicans, Malek has been a critic of investments in China and made removing them from state investment portfolios a political objective. In his April 14 letter, Malek pointed to economic, legal and geopolitical risks associated with Chinese stocks, adding these are "real, accelerating and incompatible with long-term fiduciary responsibility". Malek's staff met with Vanguard executives in early May, according to e-mails reviewed by Reuters, ahead of a May 21 meeting of the board of trustees for the Missouri college savings plan, the agenda for which included discussion of other investment options excluding China. On May 30, Vanguard advised the Missouri Treasurer's office that it would be launching the ex-China ETF. At nearly the same time as the e-mail was sent, it filed with the SEC. "Typically, the product development cycle is a matter of months, not weeks, so it's quite possible that Vanguard had already been looking at this as an area to explore," said Bryan Armour, an ETF analyst at Morningstar. Malek said he sees the new ETF as an example of effective collaboration between conservative state treasurers and asset managers. Since Vanguard has responded favorably to his request, Malek plans to make sure the new ETF is a success, pointing out that he has influence with the 120 or so other smaller pension funds across Missouri. "I'll be using my bully pulpit to encourage those pension funds to utilize this particular ETF from Vanguard," he said.
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Arcade games, weapons, crystals on new ‘unallowable' expense list for West Virginia's Hope Scholarship
CLARKSBURG, (WBOY) — The Hope Scholarship, a way for West Virginia families to invest in for alternative education for their children instead of public education, has outlined new new limits on what can purchased with the funds. Hope Scholarship is part of a push in West Virginia to give parents school choice. Qualifying students can get up to $5,000 per year to go toward alternative private, charter or homeschooling options. However, the State Treasurer's office clarified last month that the scholarship can't be used for just anything. A new 'Non-Qualifying (Unallowable) Expense List' for the Hope Scholarship was adopted on May 16 to give families a better idea of what cannot be purchased. The non-comprehensive list includes a number of entertainment-related items, weapons and ammunition, virtual reality equipment, livestock, medications, jewelry, trees, metal detectors, trampolines, 'tourmaline crystal towers,' pool tables, movie theater admissions, and Apple watches. Historic Washington Irving Middle School honored with farewell tour You can see the full list online here, but any items that are 'predominantly for personal use or that pose a high risk of fraud' will also likely be denied by the Hope Scholarship board. Families that are approved for the Hope Scholarship can use it for private school tuition or to purchase many homeschooling and educational items through a portal without additional board approval. The Hope Scholarship, which gives the tax amount that would go to a child's public education back to the family for alternative schooling, has continued expanding since it started in 2022. Opponents of Hope Scholarship say that it adds to the problem of public schools closing in the state because it redistributes some of the state's funding for education. Currently, the scholarship is only open to certain students, but starting in 2026, it will be available to up to 40,000 students across West Virginia, which is expected to reshape education in the state. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Associated Press
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Iowa's lone Democratic statewide officeholder Rob Sand announces 2026 bid for governor
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — State Treasurer Rob Sand, the only Iowa Democrat currently serving in statewide office, announced a bid Monday for the open governor's race in an effort to break up a long streak of Republican leadership in the state. Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds made a surprise announcement last month that she would not seek a third term, leaving a wide open Republican primary and offering Democrats a glimmer of hope that they could make inroads in a midterm year with President Donald Trump in the White House. 'In Iowa, we know it's not about right versus left, but right versus wrong,' Sand said in his announcement. 'As governor, I will always do what's right for Iowans.' It's an uphill battle in a state that Trump won by 13 percentage points in 2024 and Reynolds by 18 percentage points in 2022. The state has shifted dramatically in favor of Republicans since 2006, the last time there was a governor's race without an incumbent candidate. Sand was first elected state auditor in 2018 by a margin of about 4 percentage points over his Republican opponent. But his election was far more competitive in 2022, when he won by less than 3,000 votes, or about three-tenths of a percentage. Recent voter registration data show nearly 200,000 more active voters registered as Republicans than Democrats. Sand often draws on his experience growing up in a small town in northeast Iowa, hunting and fishing. He has said he appeals to a bipartisan coalition of voters across all parts of Iowa, urban and rural. His campaign will also benefit from an amassed $8 million in campaign contributions last year, most of which came from his extended family's pockets.
