(Update: On Tuesday, June 16, Cindy Byrd won the GOP nomination for state treasurer and advanced to the Nov. 3 general election.)
An unexpected primary has become one of Oklahoma’s more contentious statewide races, with State Treasurer Todd Russ and State Auditor and Inspector Cindy Byrd trading barbs about the other’s history in office.
Term-limited in her current position, Byrd had spent months campaigning for lieutenant governor before suddenly filing to challenge Russ in April. Byrd’s decision came as Russ faced scrutiny for a contract choice within the nascent Invest in Oklahoma program, and it left the Cordell banker scrambling to defend his position against the Coalgate CPA in a race with potential to split the state longitudinally.
Both Russ and Byrd agreed to interviews ahead of the primary, with Byrd explaining her last-second decision to seek a different office. After President Donald Trump endorsed T.W. Shannon for lieutenant governor, Byrd said people suggested an alternative.
“They said, ‘There are real issues [at the State Treasurer’s Office], we really want you to consider that.’ And that was like the week before filing. And I started looking into that, and I realized that there really were issues there, but then one of them asked me a question that really resonated, and he said two things: one, ‘If that office had been open, would you have ran for lieutenant governor or treasurer?’ And I said, without thinking, I said, ‘Treasurer, I’m a CPA, the money is what I’m focused on.’ And he said, ‘Do you realize that the financial arm of economic development is now located in the treasurer’s office with the Invest in Oklahoma program?'”
Launched in 2025, the Invest in Oklahoma Board gives the State Treasurer’s Office more power than ever over economic development, with the Legislature and Gov. Kevin Stitt also establishing the new sovereign wealth fund under its purview this year.
“There’s been a couple of things that we’ve had to deal with since I came in,” Russ said. “Now we’ve got, I think, three more new mandates, and being able to invest these wisely and carefully and according to the law will be our first priority.”
Russ, 65, is the former CEO and president of Washita State Bank who has served in elected office since 2009. He represented House District 55 in western Oklahoma until he was term limited, overcoming criticism about his bank’s books to defeat former Sen. Clark Jolley in an open race for state treasurer in 2022. He views his state treasurer responsibilities as being similar to the career he had in banking.
“The state treasurer’s role is basically the bank CEO for the state of Oklahoma’s money. I mean, that is what that role is,” he said. “And the state treasurer has six different divisions under the Treasury. I sit on 11 state boards. I manage an $18 billion investment portfolio and oversee the banking payment systems for the state of Oklahoma. We actually have a teller window at the Treasury at the Capitol and oversee all of the payment systems, just like a bank would, as well.”
Byrd, 53, has served as state auditor and inspector since 2019. Prior to her election, she had been Oklahoma’s deputy auditor and inspector.
“I’m ready to take 30 years’ worth of government auditing at all levels of government in this state and sit on the other side of the table, where I can help fix some of these problems,” Byrd said. “As the auditor, you are on an island by yourself, you’re supposed to be independent, and you can write reports, and you can write recommendations, but you don’t have the ability to go in and work with people like, for instance, the governor or his team, or have any kind of seat at the table to try to fix some of these problems because you’ve got to stay on the side of being the independent auditor who only reports the issues.”
The winner of the June 16 Republican primary will go on to face Libertarian Kiefer Perry in November. Early voting begins today and will continue through Saturday before polls reopen from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday.
Russ: ‘I’m not a secret to Oklahoma’
While the first two days of the April 2026 filing period made it look as if Russ might be reelected unopposed, Byrd surprised onlookers when she entered her name into the treasurer’s race Friday.
Byrd originally announced her campaign for lieutenant governor in January 2025. She initially hoped to work with a new governor to address mismanagement her office had investigated in the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, the Oklahoma State Department of Education and other government agencies. She also hoped use the office to foster business development, particularly in rural areas, such as her hometown of Coalgate.
“I did have one person ask me, ‘Auditor, you’re so serious, why do you want to be the lieutenant governor? That’s a ribbon cutting position,'” she said. “And it was very difficult to get people to believe that I could make that be a real job.”
Ahead of Trump’s March 24 of Shannon to be lieutenant governor, Byrd said the president called her.
“He said, ‘I appreciate what all you’ve done for me, but I gave my word a couple of years ago to endorse your opponent, and I’m a man of my word.’ And I said, ‘Well, that’s OK, President Trump, because you know, just like you, I won 77 counties twice, and I’m a fighter, too.'”
Russ characterized Byrd’s decision to enter the treasurer race as disappointing, but not surprising.
“You know, it’s politics. I wouldn’t say we were surprised. We’ve been hearing some feedback and chatter for two or three months or more, that this was a strategy that might happen, so I don’t know if that surprise is the right word, but disappointed is certainly part of what happened in that situation,” Russ said. “I mean, you know, when someone says they’re going to do one thing and then they do another, you always kind of scratch your head and wonder why they did it that way.”
With Byrd campaigning for 16 months and Russ not having a confirmed challenger until April 3, Russ said his opponent has the advantage when it comes to campaign contributions and expenditures. For example, Russ only raised $800 in the first quarter of 2026 against $3,405 in expenses. Byrd reported $78,293 raised against $19,348 expended in the first quarter for her lieutenant governor campaign.
In Russ’ pre-primary report filed this week, figures from April 1 to June 1 show he caught up quickly, raising $106,800 and expending $62,115. In that time period, Byrd raised $227,141, although $202,405 was transferred from her previous campaign committee. She expended $48,103 in that time period.
“It certainly has put me in an awkward situation from a campaign standpoint, because I was pretty much boxed in until the last — maybe having eight or nine weeks to really do a statewide campaign up against someone that spent 10 months out there campaigning in a lieutenant governor race, and then switching. So it’s complicated and frustrating, but we feel really good about how we’ve launched, and we’re ready to go, and, and have got a lot of great momentum,” Russ said. “I’m not a secret to Oklahoma. I’m out in the public every day, somehow.”
Byrd: ‘My focus will be investing for the highest rate of return’
Russ said the treasury has had “phenomenal results” under his tenure, particularly in increasing the state’s investment earnings.
“I manage an $18 billion investment portfolio. The year before I came in, that portfolio made $80 million to go into the General Revenue Fund. Last year, I made $450 million, and I’m on track to break $465 million this year. That’s been absolutely a thrill for me to come in and be able to be a part of that,” Russ said. “We’ve also been able to put over $1 billion back in the community banks, instead of sending that money to Wall Street and parking it up there with the big money managers, and that’s great for community banks and small businesses to have access to liquidity for loans and those kinds of things. I’d like to double that if I get to stay in.”
Both candidates said one of their top priorities over the next four years would be reforming how the Treasury handles unclaimed property, one of the office’s core responsibilities.
“Unclaimed property that just keeps growing, that is (worth) over $1 billion, that in the last year, that return to people has — in the last 18 months — has been declining, because that’s not being worked,” Byrd claimed. “It’s time to put a focus back on that, because I had people coming to me all across the state when I’m out here speaking, saying we aren’t getting our money returned to us. So instead of opening satellite offices and spending money, maybe the focus should be put back on the taxpayers who are depending on that office for services.”
Russ said none of the Treasury’s satellite offices is funded through taxpayer dollars. Instead, they are funded through unclaimed property program administration fees. For his part, Russ also acknowledged that services need to be improved, but he compared the current situation to construction in which a road must be torn up before it can be repaved. He said his team has “completely dismantled” the prior system.
“It’s been very disruptive, very frustrating to the public. I understand that. I’m sorry it’s that way, but we had to completely re-stand that process up and get this to where we can really move the needle going forward, and we have just completed that process in just the last few weeks,” Russ said. “I really want to get a second term to really light the afterburners on that and show people just how well that operation could run with the right leadership at the helm.”
The state treasurer is also responsible for maintaining the Invest in Oklahoma program, through which state entities can invest in Oklahoma-based private equity, venture capital funds and growth-based funds. In 2026, the Legislature also created the Oklahoma Taxpayer Endowment Trust Fund as the state’s own sovereign wealth fund and moved $200 million of savings into it. Russ said his experience in banking gives him an “intuitive understanding” of handling the state’s investments.
“It’s definitely going to up the demands of the Treasury’s capabilities and expertise in investing and money management, and you know, over the years, the Legislature’s handed the Treasury a lot of things,” Russ said.
Russ and Byrd have both taken stances against ESG, standards used to evaluate climate and social impact. Byrd signed a letter calling for the Securities and Exchange Commission to restrict investment options into companies with ESG policies for asset managers and retirement plans, and Russ has been the defendant representing the state’s anti-ESG policies in court for years, a fight that first put him at odds with Attorney General Gentner Drummond.
Despite the letter she signed, Byrd said she would prioritize dividends over any investment firm’s stances on environmental or social issues.
“My focus will be investing for the highest rate of return,” Byrd said. “Money is green, it is not red or blue.”
Candidates address satellite office controversy
While the candidates may agree improvements are necessary to the Treasury’s unclaimed property processes, it seems to be one of the few places of concord between the two in the weeks leading up to the election.
Byrd has criticized the Treasury’s policy of issuing debit cards for tax refunds as “ripe for fraud” and an unfriendly policy to seniors, and she has also called the Treasury’s open records practices into question. Additionally, the two candidates made headlines last month after Harold Hamm endorsed Russ. Byrd said that came as no surprise, stating the two men were relatives.
Russ acknowledged that Hamm is a cousin, and he addressed Byrd’s broader criticisms of his office, including Drummond’s rejection of a proposed Invest in Oklahoma contract with “a politically connected firm close to the governor.”
“As far as our office and claims of not being transparent and not going through proper processes in the [request for proposal] processes: Look, I came from a long career in one of the most heavily regulated industries in the world, in banking and finance. We had some kind of a compliance, or regulatory, or auditing entity on us all the time. It’s second nature for me to do things right,” Russ said. “We haven’t done anything that’s been unethical, inappropriate, illegal. I would welcome an audit of the State Treasurer’s Office. The first audit we had was squeaky clean. We expect the second to be, but we’re two years behind on the state auditor doing our ’24-’25 audits.”
In addition to transparency concerns, Byrd addressed a report that Russ was using an unclaimed property office in Custer County — about 20 minutes from his home — as a commuting hub, using a state vehicle to get to the Capitol and back.
“I believe that the issue with opening satellite offices and opening an office in Clinton by itself and placing a car there to commute back and forth — and you can quote me on this — is an absolute abuse of taxpayer money and trust. I live in Coalgate. I drive my personal vehicle. It’s two-hour commute one way to the Capitol. I drive my personal vehicle to and from the Capitol, and I pay for 100 percent of that gas. It’s my decision to live two hours away from the Capitol,” she said. “Now, I don’t drive back and forth every day. I have a place that I rent in Oklahoma City, but I made that decision. It’s not the taxpayer’s place unless the Legislature puts it in the law to allow me to have a car, and there is no such allowance for the state auditor or the state treasurer.”
Russ dismissed Byrd’s criticism, going on the offensive by noting he hardly sees her in the Capitol.
“It’s kind of silly when that same person probably has eight satellite offices, works out of her hometown in Coalgate, in a county office, and I haven’t seen her at the State Capitol three times in the last 10 months,” Russ said. “So she doesn’t really need to drive to the State Capitol to do her job, I guess, but I’m there almost every single day if I don’t have to be somewhere else.”
Byrd claimed that while the State Auditor and Inspector’s Office has four rented spaces for employees who conduct audits around the state, she has never been so much as a passenger in a state vehicle. She called attention to how the report from Paul Monties of Oklahoma Watch said the Clinton office opened the same month as the Treasury obtained a car.
Russ believes his actions are within the law and ethical standards. He noted his hometown is not in Clinton, but he sometimes does work in the office there.
“I drive into either that or the Capitol in my personal car every day. I have never taken the Treasury vehicle to my home. It’s never, ever been to a home,” he said.
Russ said he used the car to transport personnel and supplies, but he said he still uses his personal vehicle often. In the past year, the car was associated with $3,700 in fuel expenses.
“The language in one of the news reports said it was unauthorized travel. I mean, I’m an independent constitutional office. Who’s going to authorize me? The governor’s not over me. None of the other constitutional officers are over me,” Russ said. “I’m working within the guidelines of the statutes of the laws, so the idea that someone has to give me authorization to do state travel in the treasurer’s business is kind of silly, and that’s that’s really all I’m doing.”
Byrd said she had previously inquired with her general counsel at the Attorney General’s Office if she could use a state vehicle to commute, and she was advised it would not be an acceptable use of the car.
