Republican State Sen. Kimberly Yee won the race for treasurer against Democrat Mark Manoil.
Yee campaigned on her experience in state government while Manoil, whose only other previous political outing was a losing bid for Corporation Commission, touted his background as "a small business owner focused on enforcing property laws.''
But Yee turned that around on him, pointing out that his business involves buying up properties whose owners have not paid their taxes. That, she argued, meant he was responsible for evicting families who had fallen on hard time.
Manoil countered that the vast majority of his business involves scooping up properties that had been bought by speculators and were often abandoned.
Yee also capitalized on Manoil's own financial issues, like loss of a home to foreclosure and repossession of a vehicle, saying he should not be put in charge of an agency that manages $15 billion in funds.
Manoil said he learned from his mistakes.
He also promoted having the state partner with rural banks to make more credit available in small communities, a concept Yee dismissed as "socialized banking.''
Incumbent Eileen Klein, appointed after the resignation of Jeff DeWit, chose not to seek to keep the office.
