Democrat · Incumbent
Mike Pieciak
Former corporate attorney who joined the Department of Financial Regulation in 2014 and later led it. State treasurer since 2023.
His case is a long list of programs aimed at affordability. His weakness, critics might argue, is an activist approach and an office that may be a stepping stone.
Pros
- Housing investment$130 million in low-interest loans through "10% in Vermont," supporting more than 1,700 housing units. He calls it his proudest accomplishment.
- Money back to VermontersOver $23 million in unclaimed property returned since taking office, plus $1.4 million mailed out through a 2025 program.
- Medical debt reliefA $1 million plan to wipe out up to $100 million in medical debt for working- and middle-class Vermonters.
- Retirement savingsVermont Saves covers 80,000-plus eligible workers; more than 6,000 have saved nearly $8 million.
- Deep experienceNearly a decade in state financial regulation before becoming treasurer.
Cons
- Baby bonds questionsLawmakers declined to fund his original plan over cost. The privately funded pilot was called "shaky" by a Democratic senator, and results may take a generation.
- Scope of the officeSome may see medical debt and baby bonds as social policy beyond the treasurer's core job of managing state money.
- Affordability still laggingHe acknowledges Vermonters feel their paychecks don't go as far as a decade ago, and that officeholders "own the good and the bad."
- Political ambitionsLong rumored as a possible governor candidate; he passed this year for personal reasons, raising the question of how long he'd stay.