Seth Walsh Holds Narrow Lead over Jay Edwards in Ohio treasurer race

The outcome of Ohio’s race for state treasurer—an office that controls roughly $275 billion in state investments and the public checkbook detailing every dollar the state spends—remained undecided early Tuesday morning, with Democrat Seth Walsh holding a razor-thin edge over Republican Jay Edwards. As of 2:40 a.m. on Nov. 4, with 98.5% of precincts reporting, Walsh led Edwards 50.19% to 49.81%, a margin of about 3,800 votes, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. The winner will step into a role that decides how Ohio banks its money, which communities get state investment, and whether the state’s $262.5 million in Israel bonds stay put.

This is not a contest for a ceremonial post. The treasurer appoints investment experts to the boards of Ohio’s major pension systems, including the State Teachers Retirement System and the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System, and manages programs like STABLE accounts for people with disabilities, Ag-LINK loans for farmers, and the Ohio Homebuyer Plus savings program. Both candidates have promised to wield the office as a platform to challenge Statehouse spending, particularly the plan to use unclaimed funds for a new Cleveland Browns stadium.

A Down-to-the-Wire Count After Election Day

The closeness mirrors Walsh’s own political history: in 2016, he challenged the Republican county treasurer in Hamilton County and lost narrowly, a defeat that sent him into community development work in Cincinnati’s Sedamsville and College Hill neighborhoods before his appointment to the Cincinnati City Council in December 2022.

Seth Walsh Holds Narrow Lead over Jay Edwards in Ohio treasurer race — Photo: yahoo.com

Walsh, who grew up in St. Joseph, Michigan, and moved to Ohio in 2009 to study political science at Xavier University, was elected student body president in 2012 and later won a seat on the Cincinnati City Council in 2025. He also founded the Cincy Soccer League. Edwards, of Nelsonville, comes from a family of Blue Dog Democrats in Appalachian Ohio—a political tradition Edwards has said “doesn’t really exist anymore.” His grandfather owned Movies 10 and Nelsonville TV Cable, and his father carried on the business while briefly serving on the city council.

Where the Candidates Stand on the Money

Both men oppose using Ohioans’ unclaimed funds to pay for the domed stadium in Brook Park, but they differ on who should control those funds. Edwards wants to move oversight of unclaimed funds from the Ohio Department of Commerce to the treasurer’s office, arguing that the state should work harder to return money to residents. “If that money wasn’t sitting there, they wouldn’t be able to use it for stadium funding,” Edwards said. “I’m not saying they’ve done a bad job, but I don’t think they actively go out and try to get that money back to people.”

Treasurer candidate – Jay Edwards (R)

Walsh, by contrast, wants to join a lawsuit challenging whether state lawmakers can use unclaimed funds for sports stadiums at all. “If you want to see a growing Ohio again, the state treasurer has all the mechanisms with that $280 billion to be a big part of that,” Walsh said.

Walsh said Ohio shouldn’t be investing outside of the United States, including Israel. “We will not be making an additional priority on any country, nonetheless Israel,” he said.

Treasurer candidates – Seth Walsh (D)

Edwards takes the opposite view on foreign investment. He has said he was “troubled that too many entities are divesting from Israel bonds for purely political reasons,” noting that the bonds have a strong track record of low risk and reliable repayments. He would invest based on financial merit, not politics. As of 2025, the Ohio Treasury held $262.5 million in Israel Bonds, making Ohio one of the largest government investors in these bonds in the country, according to the Ohio Treasurer’s office.

Using the Office as a Platform

Both candidates have signaled they intend to use the treasurer’s bully pulpit more aggressively than the current officeholder, term-limited Republican Robert Sprague. Walsh said Ohio needs more accountability for data centers and other large investments, suggesting the state could prevent its money from flowing to companies investing in data centers. Edwards said he would speak out against what he sees as bad spending deals by state lawmakers, including the stadium funding.

On pension transparency, Edwards wants more communication with retirees when cost-of-living adjustments are not provided. “Maybe the fund’s not in the position to be able to do that,” he said. “That’s fine, but we need to be able to prove that and talk to our retirees about it.”

Whatever the outcome, the next treasurer will inherit an office that touches everything from a farmer’s loan rate in rural Ohio to the retirement security of public employees and the state’s position on international investments.