COLUMBIA, S.C. — The state Senate voted to oust Treasurer Curtis Loftis over a yearslong accounting error, leaving the statewide official a vote by the House away from being removed from office for willful neglect of duty.

The 33-8 vote in the state Senate is the upper chamber’s culmination of a three-year investigation into the state’s financial records, including the last two years over a $1.8 billion accounting error that the treasurer, comptroller general and state auditor’s offices all knew about.

Thirty-one “yes” votes were needed in the Senate for Loftis to be removed. Now, the resolution moves to the House, where Republicans hold a supermajority. If the 124-seat House takes up the resolution and two-thirds of the chamber vote in favor, Loftis would be removed from office.

GOP leadership in the House has not said whether it would move on the resolution.

When Loftis took to the lectern to defend himself, his demeanor was restrained, in contrast to the tense hearings he had in front of lawmakers to discuss the accounting issues.

“I regret that this issue has become politicized and contentious. I regret that my passion to defend my staff, my office and the voters may have heightened tensions already present,” Loftis said while reading prepared remarks. “My passion for fighting what I perceived to be injustice may have been inappropriate. My intent was always to do the honorable thing.”

After the Monday’s hearing, which lasted roughly 10 hours, Loftis said the result of the vote was what he expected.

“I wouldn’t have been surprised if it had been unanimous. I know how the Senate works, but there are no surprises here,” Loftis said in an interview with The State late Monday evening in his office. “I still battle an environment where nobody’s under oath, and I can’t tell you how important that is, but having said that, they’ve had their vote, we’re through with them for a while. So that’s good.”

State Sen. Larry Grooms, R-Berkeley, who led the Senate’s investigation into the state’s accounting issues, said former Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom’s and former State Auditor George Kennedy’s resignations were honorable actions.

Eckstrom resigned in 2023 because of a $3.5 billion accounting error, and Kennedy resigned after an independent forensic audit found that most of the $1.8 billion did not exist.

Disclosure of the accounting issues has led to an ongoing investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission into the state’s financial records. The state spent $3 million on the outside forensic audit to determine if the $1.8 billion was real. The general assembly also moved to hire a financial compliance officer to oversee the treasurer, comptroller general and state auditor’s offices.

“We will pay for his mistakes,” state Sen. Stephen Goldfinch said of Loftis.

Loftis asked the state Supreme Court to stop the hearing questioning whether the process was properly being carried out, but the court declined to halt the proceedings.

The errors stemmed from a conversion from one accounting system to another.

An outside independent forensic audit found the treasurer’s office along with the comptroller-general and state auditor’s office, as well as an independent outside auditing firm, knew about the $1.8 billion accounting issue but did not alert the General Assembly. That same forensic audit found the state’s yearslong accounting issues has found most of the $1.8 billion did not exist, but also no money was missing.

“Treasurer Loftis has had a big secret that he didn’t want anybody to know about,” Grooms said.

Monday’s historic hearing delved into issues over whether Loftis intended to release sensitive state financial data, how the treasurer’s office did not release interest earned on federal dollars, and whether Loftis should have reconciled state funds and accounts.

Loftis said he never had intended to post the sensitive information, but the governor and the SLED chief spoke to Loftis make sure he didn’t. Loftis’ attorney denied conversations with the governor and SLED chief were needed to stop the posting.

Goldfinch argues that Loftis knew a problem existed but didn’t report it.

“He is so concerned about his public appearance he will do anything to cover-up this mistake,” Goldfinch said.

“That man is liar. The treasurer’s shifting explanations have only deepened the confusion,” Goldfinch said.

Loftis Attorney Johnny Gasser pointed out the AlixPartners report did not include a conclusion there was a cover-up.

“We know there was never any cover-up by Curtis Loftis, what does that make him,” Gasser said about Goldfinch calling Loftis a liar more than a dozen times during the hearing.

The fund was controlled by the treasury, Grooms said and the treasurer’s office made thousands of entries into the fund.

Loftis’ team countered saying the $1.8 billion listing was made at the direction of the comptroller general’s office. Loftis’ lawyers also criticized the hearing, saying neither side was able to bring forward witnesses like would take place during a judicial proceeding as opposed to legislative hearing. His lawyers also were upset over the lack of document production ahead of the hearing.

“There will be no evidence, no witnesses, no due process,” said Loftis’ attorney Deborah Barbier.

But much the hearing, garnering media attention from around the state, took place as Loftis seeks reelection in 2026. Loftis initially said he would not run for reelection but changed his mind after in an effort to preserve he legacy.

Loftis, who was first elected treasurer in 2010, did not face a primary challenge in 2022. In the general election, he received 79.67% against a third-party challenger who received 19% of the vote. No Democrat ran for the office.

Loftis, a Republican, most likely only needs to win the GOP primary in June 2026 to all but ensure reelection in the reliably Republican state.

“Treasurer Loftis is the most popular statewide official ever,” Barbier told the Senate chamber as a picture of the treasurer with President Donald Trump was projected in the Senate chamber.

State Sen. Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg, who is the chamber’s minority leader, honed in on the timeline of how the error occurred and asked Loftis why he didn’t alert the General Assembly.

“Is it because you didn’t know, or didn’t want us to know?” Hutto said.

State Sen. Richard Cash, R-Anderson, was critical during his questioning of Loftis.

“I find in incomprehensible your staff wouldn’t tell you about this big of a problem,” Cash said.

Whether the House takes up the resolution is still in question. State Rep. Micah Caskey, R-Lexington, was in the Senate chamber observing the proceeding and was slated to discuss the issue with the House GOP Caucus.

“I certainly understand how anybody could reach whatever conclusion they did,” Caskey said after Monday’s vote. “It is a subjective test that you have to ask yourself, I think there is no question that the state of South Carolina is spending millions of dollars because of the decisions that the treasurer made when it could have spent thousands of dollars. Does that rise to the level of removal? I certainly again understand how anybody can come to the conclusions that they did.”

After Monday’s vote, Grooms and Goldfinch were not in a celebratory mood even though they were victorious in the upper chamber.

“I’m sad that we even had to do it. This is a regrettable situation that none of us wanted to even engage in, but we felt like it was our duty, because, you can’t just close your eyes, turn a blind eye to a $1.8 billion error in your books that was unfortunately covered up by the treasurer for many, many years,” Goldfinch told reporters.

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