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Dennis Milligan
2023 - Present
2027
2
Dennis Milligan (Republican Party) is the Arkansas Auditor of State. He assumed office on January 10, 2023. His current term ends on January 12, 2027.
Milligan (Republican Party) is running for re-election for Arkansas Auditor of State. He declared candidacy for the 2026 election.[source]
Biography
Milligan's career experience includes working as a real estate developer, home builder, and the owner of Water Treatment Services, a central Arkansas small business that serves customers in 17 states. He and his wife, Tina Summers Milligan, have a daughter and three grandchildren.[1][2]
Political career
Arkansas Auditor of State (2023-present)
Milligan served as Arkansas Auditor of State since January 10, 2023, following his election on November 8, 2022.
Arkansas Treasurer (2015-2023)
Milligan served as Arkansas Treasurer from January 13, 2015 to January 10, 2023. He was first elected in November 2014 and re-elected in 2018.
Elections
2026
See also: Arkansas Auditor election, 2026
General election
The general election will occur on November 3, 2026.
General election for Arkansas Auditor of State
Incumbent Dennis Milligan is running in the general election for Arkansas Auditor of State on November 3, 2026.
Candidate | ||
 | Dennis Milligan (R) | |
| ||||
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Endorsements
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2022
See also: Arkansas Auditor election, 2022
General election
General election for Arkansas Auditor of State
Dennis Milligan defeated Diamond Arnold-Johnson and Simeon Snow in the general election for Arkansas Auditor of State on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Dennis Milligan (R) | 66.8 | 595,166 |
| Diamond Arnold-Johnson (D) | 29.0 | 258,154 | ||
 | Simeon Snow (L) | 4.2 | 37,825 | |
| Total votes: 891,145 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
The Democratic primary election was canceled. Diamond Arnold-Johnson advanced from the Democratic primary for Arkansas Auditor of State.
Republican primary election
The Republican primary election was canceled. Dennis Milligan advanced from the Republican primary for Arkansas Auditor of State.
Libertarian convention
Libertarian convention for Arkansas Auditor of State
Simeon Snow advanced from the Libertarian convention for Arkansas Auditor of State on February 20, 2022.
Candidate | ||
| ✔ | | Simeon Snow (L) |
| ||||
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2018
- See also: Arkansas Treasurer election, 2018
General election
General election for Arkansas Treasurer
Incumbent Dennis Milligan defeated Ashley Ewald in the general election for Arkansas Treasurer on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Dennis Milligan (R) | 70.9 | 611,189 |
 | Ashley Ewald (L) | 29.1 | 250,943 | |
| Total votes: 862,132 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for Arkansas Treasurer
Incumbent Dennis Milligan advanced from the Republican primary for Arkansas Treasurer on May 22, 2018.
Candidate | ||
| ✔ | | Dennis Milligan |
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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2014
Milligan ran for election to the office of Arkansas Treasurer in 2014. Milligan secured the Republican nomination in the primary on May 20, 2014, and won the general election on November 4, 2014.
Results
Primary election
| Arkansas Treasurer, Republican Primary, 2014 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | ||
 Dennis Milligan |
53.5% | 86,994 | ||
| Duncan Baird | 46.5% | 75,673 | ||
| Total Votes | 162,667 | |||
| Election results via Arkansas Secretary of State. | ||||
General election
| Treasurer of Arkansas, 2014 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican | Dennis Milligan |
56.4% | 466,959 | |
| Democratic | Karen Sealy Garcia | 37.3% | 308,663 | |
| Libertarian | Chris Hayes | 6.4% | 52,640 | |
| Total Votes | 828,262 | |||
| Election results via Arkansas Secretary of State | ||||
Campaign themes
2026
Ballotpedia survey responses
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2022
Dennis Milligan did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
Issues
ESG
| Environmental, social, and corporate governance |
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| Select a topic from the dropdown below to learn more. |
Milligan 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 2022, Milligan said, "I am proud to have been a champion fighting these policies since 2019 when I directed my investment team to remove any investments we might have from China and other countries that work to harm America. As recently as March of this year, we also pulled $125 million from BlackRock for their CEO's outspokenness against the natural energy industry."[3]
Opposition to Morningstar ratings of Israel investments (August 2022)
In August 2022, Milligan and 17 other members of the State Financial Officers Foundation (SFOF) signed a letter addressed to Morningstar, a financial services firm, 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 said 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.”[4]
Opposition to SEC proposal to mandate ESG reporting (June 2022)
In June 2022, Milligan and 22 other state financial officials submitted a comment to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) opposing a proposed rule called “Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors.” In December 2022, the Pittsburgh Business Times reported the rule “would become some of the first mandatory environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting requirements for U.S. companies, requiring the disclosure of climate-related risk information in registration statements and periodic reports.”[5][6]
The signatories said, “We have watched with dismay as the Commission and other federal commissions and boards have proposed rules and policies that promote political causes that will adversely affect public finance and retirement income. The Proposed Rule is another such rule.”[7]
Letter to Department of Labor regarding use of ESG criteria in ERISA decisions (May 2022)
In May 2022, Milligan and 37 state officials from 23 states signed a letter to the Employment Benefits Security Administration to oppose a proposed agency rule. The proposed rule would allow fiduciaries of private pension plans governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) to “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.”[8]
The signatories said the rule “would irrationally require fiduciaries to elevate immaterial and speculative risks in employee retirement savings investment decisions” where instead the fiduciaries should be “considering only the material financial or pecuniary factors of each potential investment.”[9]
Removal of state funds from BlackRock (March 2022)
As state treasurer in March 2022, Milligan announced that he was removing $125 million in Arkansas state-managed investments from the asset management firm BlackRock. A Milligan representative cited BlackRock’s reliance on ESG factors in its investment strategy as the reason for the state’s disinvestment.[10]
Milligan's representative said, "Once we began to see BlackRock's active global political activity (handpicking companies that aligned with their ESG beliefs and beliefs we feel most Arkansans are opposed to), we began divesting and were fully divested by March 1."[11]
Opposition to Federal Reserve Bank appointee (January 2022)
In January 2022, Milligan was one of 25 members of the State Financial Officers Foundation (SFOF) who signed a letter to President Joe Biden (D), asking him to withdraw Sarah Bloom Raskin's nomination to the Federal Reserve Bank Board of Governors.[12]
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 should prioritize 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.”[13]
Milligan 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.”[12]
In a separate news release, Milligan said, “This liberal idea that banks should move away from funding organizations that invest in reliable energy sources is partisan and has no place in the free market."[14]
In March 2022, Raskin withdrew her name from consideration for the Federal Reserve position. [15]
Opposition to U.S. Department of Labor ESG rules (December 2021)
In December 2021, Milligan 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. The rule would encourage financial managers to consider ESG factors when selecting investments for private sector pension plans.[16]
Titled the “Prudence and Loyalty in Selecting Plan Investments and Exercising Shareholder Rights,” the rule said 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.”[16]
Milligan and the other officials wrote 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.”[17]
Milligan and the other officials said 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.”[17]
West Virginia letter supporting financial system access for fuel industry (November 2021)
Milligan, along with treasurers, auditors, and comptrollers in 15 states, signed West Virginia State Treasurer Riley Moore's (R) November 22, 2021, letter to the U.S. banking industry.[18]
The letter said: “We are writing to notify you that we will be taking collective action in response to the ongoing and growing economic boycott of traditional energy production industries by U.S. financial institutions.”[18] The signatories said their objective was to "select financial institutions that support a free market and are not engaged in harmful fossil fuel industry boycotts for our states’ financial services contracts."[18]
Letter to John Kerry regarding banking access for energy firms (May 2021)
Milligan was one of 14 state financial officials who signed West Virginia State Treasurer Riley Moore's (R) May 2021 letter to Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry. The treasurers said Kerry and others in Joe Biden’s 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 said 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.”[19]
According to Politico's Zach Colman, Kerry was “prodding major U.S. banks privately to announce commitments for climate-friendly finance.” Colman reported 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.” Colman reported 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.[20][21]
The United States Department of State denied Kerry pressured institutions on environmental subjects.[22]
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
See also
2026 Elections
External links
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Candidate Arkansas Auditor of State |
Officeholder Arkansas Auditor of State |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Arkansas State Treasurer, “Treasurer DENNIS MILLIGAN,” accessed December 18, 2022
- ↑ DennisMilligan.com, “Meet Dennis Milligan,” accessed December 18, 2022
- ↑ Magnolia Banner News, “Treasurer Dennis Milligan Featured in NY Times Article Regarding ESG,” August 13, 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
- ↑ Pittsburgh Business Times, “SEC’s proposed ESG rule: Key takeaways for public and private companies,” December 1, 2022
- ↑ State Financial Officers Foundation, Letter to Securities and Exchange Commission Re: Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors, June 17, 2022
- ↑ State Financial Officers Foundation, Letter to Securities and Exchange Commission Re: Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors, June 17, 2022
- ↑ State of Utah, “Re: Request for Information on Possible Agency Actions to Protect Life Savings and Pensions from Threats of Climate Related Financial Risk Z–RIN 1210–ZA30,” May 16, 2022
- ↑ State of Utah, “Re: Request for Information on Possible Agency Actions to Protect Life Savings and Pensions from Threats of Climate Related Financial Risk Z–RIN 1210–ZA30,” May 16, 2022
- ↑ Arkansas Democrat Gazette, “Arkansas state treasurer yanks about $125M out of accounts managed by BlackRock,” March 17, 2022
- ↑ Arkansas Democrat Gazette, “Arkansas state treasurer yanks about $125M out of accounts managed by BlackRock,” March 17, 2022
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 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
- ↑ Arkansas State Treasury, “State Treasurer Dennis Milligan Opposes Federal Reserve Nominee Raskin,” January 31, 2022
- ↑ New York Post, “Sarah Raskin withdraws Federal Reserve nomination after Joe Manchin blocks Biden pick,” March 15, 2022
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 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 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
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 West Virginia Office of the State Treasurer, “Letter: To Whom It May Concern in the U.S. Banking Industry,” November 22, 2021
- ↑ 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
- ↑ West Virginia Office of the State Treasurer, “Letter from Riley Moore to Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry,” May 25, 2021
- ↑ The Missouri Times, "Fitzpatrick, other state treasurers warn banks over Biden administration’s climate finance push," May 27, 2021
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Andrea Lea (R) |
Arkansas Auditor of State 2023-Present |
Succeeded by - |
| Preceded by Charles Robinson (D) |
Arkansas Treasurer 2015-2023 |
Succeeded by Mark Lowery (R) |
| ||||||||||||||
