Far from the spotlight, race is on for Pa. treasurer

It’s a big election year in Pennsylvania, and not just because the state’s an important one in determining control of the presidency and Senate.

Several down-ballot state contests have so far been largely drowned out by the top of the ticket.

One of them is the race for state treasurer, pitting Republican Otto Voit against Democrat Joe Torsalla.

Voit is the former president of the Keystone Dental Group, and Torsalla has served in various political capacities, including as an ambassador to the U.N.

Both have aligned themselves squarely with the presidential candidates for their respective parties; Torsalla has campaigned for Democrat Hillary Clinton in the commonwealth, and Voit has become something of a fixture at GOP nominee Donald Trump’s Pennsylvania rallies.

He was the first statewide candidate to endorse the business mogul, and falls in line with virtually all of Trump’s platform.

“I will not waver, nor will I back down in my support of Donald J. Trump,” he told a cheering crowd at a recent Trump event in Wilkes-Barre.

This election comes with Pennsylvania facing significant deficits. The current treasurer has a $2.5 billion line of credit extended to the state, which is being used to pay immediate expenses.

It’s also a rocky time for previous office holders. Two of the three most recent treasurers have been federally charged.