Does Anyone Care About The State Treasurer’s Race?

Early voting for the October 14th election is underway, and most people still don't know about the race for state treasurer.

That's according to LaPolitics.com Publisher Jeremy Alford who says even donors aren't writing checks the way the normally do. He says that's partly because wealthy leaders and activists have just been through an active three year election cycle.

"Meanwhile you have Republican donors that are pretty confident that the next treasurer will be Republican, so why waste the money," said Alford.

Alford says since the state treasurer candidates don't have very big war chests, they are limited in what they can spend on exposure which leads to lack of voter engagement. He also says those in the running aren't actually talking about the job, because it's boring.

"They are number pushers and make sure the state's money gets deposited," said Alford. "That's why you hear the candidates talking about immigration and gun rights. Things that have nothing to do with the state treasurer."

Secretary of State Tom Schedler predicts turnout for this race will be below 20%. Alford also doesn't see interest in this election spiking during the runoff. He says voters might start seeing some more commercials from the candidates now until Election Day.

"I would imagine those would be, at the very least, entertaining," said Alford. "Those candidates are just desperate right now to reach out and grab voters’ attention."

There are three Republicans in the race, Angele Davis of Baton Rouge, state Senator Neil Riser and former State Representative John Schroder. The lone Democrat is New Orleans attorney, Derrick Edwards.