David McRae
David McRae (Republican Party) is the Mississippi Treasurer. He assumed office on January 9, 2020. His current term ends on January 6, 2028.
McRae (Republican Party) ran for re-election for Mississippi Treasurer. He won in the general election on November 7, 2023.
Biography
David McRae received a bachelor's degree from Southern Methodist University and a Juris Doctor from Mississippi College School of Law. His career experience includes serving as managing partner of the family business, McRae Investments, and as an attorney. He has been associated with the Mississippi Republican Party Foundation, the Metro Capital Area Habitat for Humanity, Friends of Children’s Hospital and the American Heart Association, the Mississippi Museum of Art, and McRae Children’s Fountains.[1]
Education
- Jackson Preparatory School
- Bachelor's degree - Southern Methodist University
- Juris Doctorate - Mississippi College School of Law
Elections
2023
See also: Mississippi Treasurer election, 2023
General election
General election for Mississippi Treasurer
Incumbent David McRae defeated Addie Lee Green in the general election for Mississippi Treasurer on November 7, 2023.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | David McRae (R) | 58.4 | 472,705 |
 | Addie Lee Green (D) | 41.6 | 337,008 | |
| Total votes: 809,713 | |||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Mississippi Treasurer
Addie Lee Green advanced from the Democratic primary for Mississippi Treasurer on August 8, 2023.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Addie Lee Green | 100.0 | 184,194 |
| Total votes: 184,194 | |||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for Mississippi Treasurer
Incumbent David McRae advanced from the Republican primary for Mississippi Treasurer on August 8, 2023.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | David McRae | 100.0 | 349,800 |
| Total votes: 349,800 | |||
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Endorsements
McRae received the following endorsements.
2019
See also: Mississippi Treasurer election, 2019
General election
General election for Mississippi Treasurer
David McRae defeated Addie Lee Green in the general election for Mississippi Treasurer on November 5, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | David McRae (R) | 60.8 | 528,899 |
| Addie Lee Green (D) | 39.2 | 340,962 | |
| Total votes: 869,861 | |||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Mississippi Treasurer
Addie Lee Green advanced from the Democratic primary for Mississippi Treasurer on August 6, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Addie Lee Green | 100.0 | 251,591 |
| Total votes: 251,591 | |||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for Mississippi Treasurer
David McRae defeated Eugene Clarke in the Republican primary for Mississippi Treasurer on August 6, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | David McRae | 61.5 | 222,610 |
 | Eugene Clarke | 38.5 | 139,345 | |
| Total votes: 361,955 | |||
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2015
- See also: Mississippi Treasurer election, 2015
Eleven state executive offices in Mississippi were up for election in 2015. The general election was held on November 3, 2015, following a primary election on August 4, 2015. Runoffs were scheduled for August 25 in case no candidate received a majority (50 percent plus one) of the popular vote in a given primary race.
Incumbent Fitch defeated McRae in the Republican primary and faced third-party challenger Viola V. McFarland in the general election.[2]
| Mississippi Treasurer Republican Primary, 2015 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | ||
 Lynn Fitch |
56.6% | 154,492 | ||
| David McRae | 43.4% | 118,411 | ||
| Total Votes | 272,903 | |||
| Election results via Mississippi Secretary of State. | ||||
Campaign finance
Pre-election report (July 1, 2015 - July 25, 2015)
Comprehensive donor information for this election was collected from the state's campaign finance authority. Based on available campaign finance records, the candidates raised a total of $580,508 and spent a total of $852,110.72 during this reporting period. This information was last updated on July 29, 2015.[3]
| Campaign Contributions and Expenditures | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Office | Beginning balance | Contributions | Expenditures | Ending balance |
Lynn Fitch |
Mississippi Treasurer | $116,760.06 | $119,809.00 | $178,286.90 | $58,282.16 |
| David McRae |
Mississippi Treasurer | $378,420.89 | $460,699.00 | $673,823.82 | $165,296.07 |
Viola V. McFarland |
Mississippi Treasurer | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0 |
| Grand Total Raised | $580,508 | ||||
| Grand Total Spent | $852,110.72 | ||||
Third periodic report (June 1, 2015 - June 30, 2015)
Comprehensive donor information for this election was collected from the state's campaign finance authority. Based on available campaign finance records, the candidates raised a total of $261,230 and spent a total of $206,370.28 during this reporting period. This information was last updated on July 26, 2015.[4]
| Campaign Contributions and Expenditures | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Office | Beginning balance | Contributions | Expenditures | Ending balance |
| Lynn Fitch |
Mississippi Treasurer | $106,313.07 | $44,680.00 | $34,233.01 | $116,760.06 |
| David McRae |
Mississippi Treasurer | $334,008.16 | $216,550.00 | $172,137.27 | $378,420.89 |
| Viola V. McFarland |
Mississippi Treasurer | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0 |
| Grand Total Raised | $261,230 | ||||
| Grand Total Spent | $206,370.28 | ||||
Second periodic report (May 1, 2015 - May 31, 2015)
Comprehensive donor information for this election was collected from the state's campaign finance authority. Based on available campaign finance records, the candidates raised a total of $242,725 and spent a total of $73,214.69 during this reporting period. This information was last updated on June 26, 2015.[5]
| Campaign Contributions and Expenditures | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Office | Beginning balance | Contributions | Expenditures | Ending balance |
| Lynn Fitch |
Mississippi Treasurer | $110,765.36 | $33,725.00 | $38,177.29 | $106,313.07 |
| David McRae |
Mississippi Treasurer | $160,045.56 | $209,000.00 | $35,037.40 | $334,008.16 |
| Viola V. McFarland |
Mississippi Treasurer | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0 |
| Grand Total Raised | $242,725 | ||||
| Grand Total Spent | $73,214.69 | ||||
First periodic report (Jan. 1, 2015 - April 30, 2015)
Comprehensive donor information for this election was collected from the state's campaign finance authority. Based on available campaign finance records, the candidates raised a total of $340,288.25 and spent a total of $166,056.43 during this reporting period. This information was last updated on May 8, 2015.[6]
| Campaign Contributions and Expenditures | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Office | Beginning balance | Contributions | Expenditures | Ending balance |
| Lynn Fitch |
Mississippi Treasurer | $97,390.44 | $88,359.25 | $74,172.99 | $110,765.36 |
| David McRae |
Mississippi Treasurer | $0 | $251,729.00 | $91,683.44 | $160,045.56 |
| Viola V. McFarland |
Mississippi Treasurer | $0.00 | $200.00 | $200.00 | $0 |
| Grand Total Raised | $340,288.25 | ||||
| Grand Total Spent | $166,056.43 | ||||
Issues
ESG
| Environmental, social, and corporate governance |
|---|
|
| Select a topic from the dropdown below to learn more. |
As treasurer, McRae took positions in opposition to environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG), an approach to investing and corporate decision-making.
State financial officers, including treasurers, auditors, and controllers, are responsible for auditing other government offices, managing payroll, and overseeing pensions. In some states, certain SFOs are also responsible for investing state retirement and trust funds.
In an October 2022 statement, McRae said, “ESG’s sole promise is to apply ‘Cancel Culture’ to corporate actions,” and that “ESG investors are cherry-picking industry winners and losers, and consumers are paying a hefty price.”
“Regardless of your view on climate change or inclusion or human rights,” he said, “Mississippi’s pension system, taxpayer dollars, and college savings programs are the wrong place to experiment with investment strategies that push balance sheets to the side.”[7]
Letter to John Kerry regarding banking access for energy firms (May 2021)
McRae was one of fourteen other state treasurers who co-signed a May 2021 letter sent by West Virginia Treasurer Riley Moore (R) to Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry (D). The treasurers informed Kerry of their concern that he and others in President Joe Biden’s (D) administration were “privately pressuring U.S. banks and financial institutions to refuse to lend to or invest in coal, oil, and natural gas companies, as part of a misguided strategy to eliminate the fossil fuel industry in our country.” The signatories told Kerry that they “strongly oppose the Biden Administration’s efforts to cut off financing for law-abiding industries that are essential to the economy and our citizens’ way of life.”[8]
According to a March 12, 2021, Politico story referenced in the letter, Kerry was “prodding major U.S. banks privately to announce commitments for climate-friendly finance.” The report also revealed that the Biden administration and several climate policy groups held a March 9, 2022, teleconference to discuss “potential financial sector regulations and executive actions to limit risk from climate change-fueled shocks.” Politico listed representatives from the following groups as participants on the call: the Center for American Progress, Public Citizen, Rainforest Action Network, Sierra Club, and 350.org.[9][8]
“While I will continue to pressure the Biden administration to make decisions that benefit Mississippi workers, I will also closely monitor which financial institutions bow to John Kerry’s demands,” said McRae in a statement from his office. “To put it plainly for those John Kerry has reportedly approached: The people of Mississippi will remember if you work against our families and economy.”[10]
Letter to Unilever CEO regarding Ben & Jerry’s anti-Israel policy (December 2021)
In July 2021, American ice cream maker Ben & Jerry’s announced it was ending sales of its products in the “occupied Palestinian territory.” In response, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Ben & Jerry’s had become the “anti-Israel ice cream.”[11]
Ben & Jerry’s is a subsidiary of Unilever, PLC, a publicly traded multinational consumer products conglomerate.
On December 9, 2021, McRae was one of six other state treasurers co-signing a letter sent by Arizona Treasurer Kimberly Yee (R) to Unilever CEO Alan Jope, accusing him of attempting to “deflect responsibility for Ben & Jerry’s boycott by suggesting that you have no authority over your subsidiary’s decision in this case.” The letter cited two law professors who had reviewed the Ben & Jerry’s acquisition agreement and found that it required Ben & Jerry’s to “help Unilever sell the premium ice cream in Israel.” The treasurers asked Jope to provide “full clarification and transparency regarding Unilever’s ability to override the discriminatory boycott of Israel initiated by Ben & Jerry’s.”[12]
“Ben & Jerry’s decision to boycott Israel was motivated by a misdirected ‘woke’ agenda,” said McRae. “I take the discriminatory economic attack on Israel seriously, as do my colleagues across the country. It’s critical we hold those who can act on this matter accountable.”[13]
In June 2022, Unilever announced it was selling the Israeli rights to the ice cream to American Quality Products (AQP), allowing sales to resume in Israel under the new label. In a Twitter statement, Ben & Jerry’s expressed its disagreement with the policy change: “While our parent company has taken this decision, we do not agree with it. Unilever’s arrangement means Ben & Jerry’s in Israel will be owned and operated by AQP. Our company will no longer profit from Ben & Jerry’s in Israel.”[14]
“I took that discriminatory economic attack on Israel seriously and applaud Unilever for having the mettle to reverse its subsidiary’s decision,” said McRae, in a statement following Unilever’s June 2022 decision.[15]
Opposition to U.S. Department of Labor ESG rules (December 2021)
In December 2021, McRae and 35 other state financial officers and attorneys general submitted a public comment to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) in opposition to a proposed DOL rule that would encourage financial managers to consider ESG factors when selecting investments for private sector pension plans.
Titled the “Prudence and Loyalty in Selecting Plan Investments and Exercising Shareholder Rights,” the rule would state that pension plan managers “can make investment decisions that reflect climate change and other environmental, social, or governance (‘ESG’) considerations, including climate-related financial risk, and choose economically targeted investments (‘ETIs’) selected, in part, for benefits apart from the investment return.”
McRae and the other officials wrote that the rule “would allow employers and investment managers to invest employee retirement savings in a way that benefits social causes and corporate goals even if it adversely affects the return to the employee” and that it would permit “proxy voting in ways that support ESG investment goals contrary to shareholder interests.”
The state officials wrote that they were “opposed to investment managers and employers being encouraged or mandated to consider ESG factors and protected from legal action when they do” and that the DOL’s proposed rule “makes what should be a financial decision into a political one.”[16]
Opposition to Federal Reserve Bank appointee (January 2022)
In January 2022, McRae was one of 25 members of the State Financial Officers Foundation (SFOF) who co-signed a letter to President Joe Biden (D), asking him to withdraw the nomination of Sarah Bloom Raskin to the Federal Reserve Bank Board of Governors.[17]
In a May 2020 New York Times commentary titled “Why Is the Fed Spending So Much Money on a Dying Industry?,” Raskin wrote that Federal Reserve policy decisions should oppose investments in fossil fuels and support investments in the renewable energy sector: “The decisions the Fed makes on our behalf should build toward a stronger economy with more jobs in innovative industries — not prop up and enrich dying ones.”[18]
McRae and the signatories on the SFOF letter wrote that they were concerned Raskin “would use the supervisory authority as Vice-Chair for Supervision at the Federal Reserve Bank to disrupt the private banking sector, reliable energy supplies, and the U.S. economy.”[17]
In a February 2022 statement, McRae said: “If Raskin’s nomination succeeds, this movement will be given one of the most prominent seats at America’s financial table. And if their policies take hold, inflation will worsen. Already high energy costs will skyrocket. And the American people will suffer. Her nomination to the Federal Reserve must be withdrawn.”[19]
In March 2022, Raskin withdrew her name from consideration for the Federal Reserve position.[20]
Opposition to Morningstar ratings of Israel investments (August 2022)
In late August 2022, McRae and 17 other members of the State Financial Officers Foundation (SFOF) co-signed a letter addressed to the Morningstar investment rating service expressing their “serious concern regarding reports that Morningstar, Inc. (Morningstar), through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Sustainalytics, negatively rates firms connected to Israel in apparent alignment with the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.” The letter asserted the BDS movement was “antithetical to the global causes of peace, democracy, and human rights” and asked Morningstar to take corrective action immediately to terminate all research and ratings products that treat Israel-connected companies differently than companies operating in other free democracies.”[21]
Campaign themes
2023
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
David McRae did not complete Ballotpedia's 2023 Candidate Connection survey.
2019
David McRae did not complete Ballotpedia's 2019 Candidate Connection survey.
2015
McRae announced his candidacy outside the Mississippi State Capitol on January 27, 2015, stating:
| “ | "Like you, I am alarmed and outraged at the corruption in our state government. Each day it seems we read a new story about bribes, kickbacks, back room deals and incompetence from those we entrusted with our tax dollars. Sadly, the politicians in Jackson are becoming just as bad as those in Washington.
That’s why I’m announcing my candidacy for State Treasurer today. We need a reformer from outside government to come in and clean up this mess. We have to root out the waste, fraud and abuse and start protecting Mississippi taxpayers. I look forward over the coming weeks and months to visiting with voters around the state, to sitting down with newspaper editorial boards and other media outlets, as we unveil more details about our agenda to reform state government and better safeguard our tax dollars." [22] |
” |
| —David McRae | ||
McRae's campaign website lists his priorities for the treasurer's office, which included:
- Fighting for taxpayers
- Rooting out corruption, incompetence, waste, fraud and abuse
- Ending no-bid contracts
- Increasing transparency and accountability
- Fiscally responsible leadership
Personal
Note: Please contact us if the personal information below requires an update.
McRae resides in Ridgeland with his wife, college sweatheart Katherine McCall McRae, and their two children. The family attends the United Methodist Church.[1]
See also
2023 Elections
External links
|
Candidate Mississippi Treasurer |
Officeholder Mississippi Treasurer |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 David McRae for Treasurer 2015 Official campaign website, "Meet David," accessed February 18, 2015
- ↑ Associated Press, "Mississippi - Summary Vote Results," August 04, 2015
- ↑ Mississippi Secretary of State, "Campaign Finance Filings," accessed July 29, 2015
- ↑ Mississippi Secretary of State, "Campaign Finance Filings," accessed July 26, 2015
- ↑ Mississippi Secretary of State, "Campaign Finance Filings," accessed June 26, 2015
- ↑ Mississippi Secretary of State, "Campaign Finance Filings," May 8, 2015
- ↑ State Treasury of Mississippi, “McRae: Protecting Mississippi’s Finances,” October 28, 2022
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 West Virginia Office of the State Treasurer, “Letter from Riley Moore to Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry,” May 25, 2021
- ↑ Politico, “Kerry to Wall Street: Put your money behind your climate PR,” March 12, 2021
- ↑ State Treasury of Mississippi, “Challenging the Biden Administration’s Energy Industry Attacks,” May 28, 2021
- ↑ Jewish News Service, “Ben & Jerry’s to freeze ice-cream sales in ‘occupied Palestinian territory,’” July 19, 2021
- ↑ Office of the Arizona State Treasurer, “Letter to Alan Jope, Chief Executive Officer of Unilever, PLC,” December 9, 2021
- ↑ State Treasury of Mississippi, “David McRae Calls Out Ben & Jerry’s Parent Company for Inaction on Discriminatory Boycott of Israel,” December 12, 2021
- ↑ Jewish News Service, “Unilever reaches deal with Ben & Jerry’s Israel to end boycott,” June 29, 2022
- ↑ State Treasury of Mississippi, “Treasurer McRae Applauds Unilever for Reversing Ben & Jerry’s Israel Boycott,” June 30, 2022
- ↑ State of Utah, “Comment to Department of Labor, Office of Regulations and Interpretations, from Utah and undersigned states. ATTN: Prudence and Loyalty in Selecting Plan Investments and Exercising Shareholder Rights,” December 13, 2021
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 State Financial Officers Foundation, “Letter to President Joe Biden from State Financial Officers Foundation.” January 31, 2021
- ↑ CNBC, “Republicans grill Fed nominee Raskin over past views on climate and big energy companies,” February 3, 2022
- ↑ State Treasury of Mississippi, “McRae: Americans don’t need an unchecked activist on the Federal Reserve,” February 4, 2022
- ↑ New York Post, “Sarah Raskin withdraws Federal Reserve nomination after Joe Manchin blocks Biden pick,” March 15, 2022
- ↑ West Virginia Office of the State Treasurer, “Letter from membership of State Financial Officers Foundation to Mr. Kunal Kapoor, Chief Executive Officer, Morningstar, Inc.,” August 25, 2022
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ David McRae's campaign website, 2015, "Homepage," accessed February 19, 2015
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by Lynn Fitch (R) |
Mississippi Treasurer 2020-Present |
Succeeded by - |
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