4 Benefits Voters Get with Nick Mansour as Arizona Treasurer

Nick Mansour, a successful businessman and former college president, will bring four benefits to the neglected office of Arizona Treasurer:

• Restoring Arizona’s chronically underfunded public education system by changing how the state manages its $10 billion permanent endowment fund, which supports K-12 schools.
• Attracting good companies and jobs to Arizona. He created 1,000 jobs through the Arizona College of Nursing.
• Eliminate massive fraud and waste in the ESA school voucher program.
• Putting an end to extreme politics and preventing a shady used-car-warranty MAGA Republican from becoming Treasurer.

“We’ll make Arizona the best place to live, work and raise a family,” Mansour told Democratic activists in Legislative District 18.

Mansour launches education-first campaign

Mansour, 50, said his top priority as Treasurer is improving management of Arizona’s $10 billion permanent endowment fund. Retiring Republican Treasurer Kimberly Yee allowed the fund to shrink by $3 billion by following an outdated investment policy that has not been updated in 28 years.

Yee put Arizona at the bottom nationally in both school performance and per-pupil funding.

Instead of investing the education endowment “as if it’s a retirement fund,” Mansour says Arizona should follow the lead of 10 other states with similar permanent funds that rely less heavily on bonds and more on growth-oriented investments.

Those states hold about 70% to 85% of growth assets, while Arizona has restricted these funds to 60%, he noted. Mansour wants to shift Arizona’s portfolio closer to a 70% to 80% in equities and high-yielding vehicles, a move he says could significantly increase long-term returns for schools without raising taxes.

Support Nick Mansour for Treasurer

---

Skilled leader vs. shady operator

Mansour’s experience includes being Chairman and CEO of the Arizona College of Nursing. Mansour expanded nursing programs that enabled graduates to earn two-and-a-half to three times their previous income, transforming economic prospects for families while helping to address nurse shortages in Arizona and other states.

“I have over 95 business leaders from around the state who’ve endorsed our campaign. I have a union supporting us. The Arizona Bankers Association has been supporting our campaign,” he said.

Mansour’s campaign has raised over $1 million so far from grassroots donors — roughly three times what the last Democratic nominee for Treasurer collected.

His likely opponent, failed Congressional candidate Elijah Norton, has raised $2.3 million. But of that, $2.1 million came out of his own pocket.

A very extreme opponent

Mansour warned that Elijah Norton, 36, “is a very extreme candidate. He lost to David Schweikert four years ago” in an ugly, vicious primary.

“He ran to the right of David Schweikert. I often get the reaction, ‘I didn’t realize it was possible to be further right than David Schweikert.’ Norton will inject MAGA policies into how we’re managing our money, which we should not be doing.”

“He is going to tout his business record, which is checkered at Veritas Global Protection Services. He and his companies sell warranties for used cars. He and his companies are littered with customer complaints, lots of litigation stemming from customer complaints about robocalling, and one of his three companies went bankrupt in the past. So he’s not somebody we want to manage our money now,” Mansour said.

Elijah Norton wants to:

• Follow President Trump’s lead with the failed DOGE job-slashing program and establish a Department of Government Efficiency at the state level.
• Slavishly use hollow MAGA slogans, saying he is “against wokeness in how we invest our state assets” and against “DEI policies.”
• Inject irrelevant foreign policy issues. Norton will refuse to invest in a company that divests from Israel.

Focus on jobs and waste reduction.

Beyond education, Mansour will recruit high-quality employees to root out egregious waste in state programs – especially the state’s Empowerment Scholarship Account voucher program.

The vouchers have a “giant loophole” in their reimbursement rules that has allowed taxpayer money to pay for trips to SeaWorld, $1 million in Legos, another $1 million in trampoline park memberships, jewelry, kitchen appliances and even lingerie.

“You literally cannot make this up. Our Treasurer could do more to stop this, and I’ll make it my priority to stop this from day one,” Mansour said.

Pitch to moderates and Republicans

Although he is running as a Democrat, Mansour says his campaign is emphasizing fiscal responsibility and a more civil political climate. He says he regularly speaks to MAGA Republicans who are backing him because of his focus on education, responsible investment and reducing waste.

Mansour is teaming up with other statewide candidates, including Terry Ruiz, who is running for Superintendent of Public Instruction, and Brian Matlock, who is running for Inspector of Mines, arguing that electing pragmatic, solutions-focused leaders to financial and regulatory offices is essential.

“We need to elect people who are going to bring our communities together, focus on the big issues, and make sure we are coming up with solutions for them, and get away from some of these.”