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HARRISBURG — Voters will have five candidates for Pennsylvania auditor general to choose from on Nov. 5.
Incumbent Auditor General Tim DeFoor, a Republican, was first elected in 2020 and is seeking a second term. He faces Democratic state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, Alan Goodrich of the Constitution Party, Libertarian Reece Smith and the American Solidarity Party’s Eric K. Anton.
The auditor general monitors how public dollars are spent to catch waste, fraud and graft. The office does this by conducting financial audits and monitoring whether state-funded programs are doing what they’re supposed to.
The auditor general is elected for a four-year term, and an individual can hold the role for a maximum of two consecutive terms.
Pennsylvania created the position as a politically appointed office in 1809. In 1850, it became an elected position. There have been 50 auditors general in Pennsylvania history, and this year’s incumbent was the 41st chosen by popular vote.
Since the office’s creation, 25 Republicans and 22 Democrats have held the position. (The three other officeholders belonged to now-defunct third parties.)
This guide may be updated with additional information as the general election approaches.
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What does Pennsylvania’s auditor general do?
An auditor general — also called a comptroller, state auditor, or auditor of public accounts in other states — monitors the spending of public funds. In Pennsylvania, the department describes itself as the “chief fiscal watchdog of the Commonwealth.”
The agency performs financial and performance audits of everything from district courts to state-owned universities to commonwealth departments. The reports the office releases detail its findings and recommend fixes and policies.
The auditor general’s office accepts reports of “suspected misuse, fraud, or waste” of state tax dollars through an official hotline. It also provides financial literacy resources across the state through the Be Money Smart initiative.
Many of the office’s audits, such as those of volunteer fire companies and municipal pension plans, are required by law. However, auditor generals also have the discretion to dive into issues of their choosing.
Under former Auditor General Eugene DePasquale, for instance, the agency issued special reports on policy issues outside the traditional scope of the office.
One laid out 12 recommendations for reducing gun violence deaths. Another estimated how much revenue the commonwealth was missing by not taxing marijuana.
The post can also serve as a launching pad for higher office.
Major party candidates
Malcolm Kenyatta, Democrat
A native of Philadelphia, Kenyatta, 34, graduated from Temple University and Drexel University before working as a community activist and on diversity and inclusion efforts at the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia.
He was elected to his North Philly-based seat in 2018 and became the first openly LGBTQ person of color to serve in the General Assembly. Elected at age 28, at the time he was also one of the state’s youngest representatives.
Since taking office, Kenyatta has been an outspoken progressive, giving fiery speeches that often go viral. He supports a higher minimum wage, stricter gun laws and LGBTQ nondiscrimination protections. He’s been a chief proponent of the latter, sponsoring a long-sought bill that would add sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of protected classes under Pennsylvania’s Human Relations Act.
He’s also sponsored legislation on less high-profile issues, such as establishing a state cybersecurity board or adding clawback language to all state grant contracts. However, in the divided General Assembly, few of these issues have won bipartisan support, and none have yet become law.
In addition to running for auditor general, Kenyatta is seeking reelection to the state House.
Kenyatta has dabbled in national politics, serving as a surrogate for President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign. In 2023, Biden appointed Kenyatta the chair of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Black Americans.
Kenyatta was the first openly LGBTQ person of color to seek a U.S. Senate seat — a bid he lost in the 2022 primary election to John Fetterman.
On his website, Kenyatta says he wants to be auditor general “because it’s time for the underdog to be the watchdog for Pennsylvania’s working families. To ask the tough questions, to help reimagine and streamline government, and to build the coalitions to fix what’s wrong.”
According to his campaign website, Kenyatta would do the following if elected:
- Create a Bureau of Labor and Worker Protections to investigate wage theft and union busting, and ensure businesses follow labor laws concerning independent contractors.
- Take responsibility for annual school compliance audits back from the Pennsylvania Department of Education, which has been in charge of them since 2022.
- Ensure hospital nonprofits and long-term care providers disclose their use of state dollars.
- Review the state’s approach to reducing gun violence.
Kenyatta won a two-way primary that was at times contentious. He accused his Democratic opponent, Lehigh County Controller Mark Pinsley, of racism. In a statement to news outlets, Kenyatta did not explain the basis for the accusation, instead calling the video “dirty political tricks.” Pinsley said the accusation is false and told Lehigh Valley News that it “doesn’t show good temperament.”
Endorsements: the Pennsylvania Democratic Party; unions including the state chapter of the American Federation of Teachers and the Pennsylvania State Building and Construction Trades Council; the Working Families Party; Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey; seven members of Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation; and members of the state legislature, including House Speaker Joanna McClinton of Philadelphia.
Tim DeFoor, Republican
A Dauphin County native, DeFoor graduated from Penn State University, the University of Pittsburgh and the Harrisburg University of Science and Technology.
DeFoor, 62, served as a special agent for the state attorney general’s office, investigating Medicaid fraud. He was also a fraud investigator and internal auditor for UPMC and for several federal contractors.
In 2015, DeFoor was elected Dauphin County controller. There, he won national awards and created the county’s first audit division.
In 2020, DeFoor was elected Pennsylvania’s auditor general, defeating Democrat Nina Ahmad. DeFoor is the first person of color to win a state row office in Pennsylvania and the first Republican to hold the auditor general position since 1997.
In his announcement that he would run for reelection, DeFoor said his first term focused on transforming the auditor general’s office in a nonpartisan way, and vowed that his second would center on “ensuring the job gets done.”
DeFoor has primarily stuck to the office’s required functions: auditing local pension plans and volunteer firefighters’ relief associations, and making sure county offices and district courts handle state money properly.
He’s also tackled a handful of controversial issues. In September 2021, he released an audit on former Gov. Tom Wolf’s pandemic waivers that allowed select businesses to remain open amid lockdown. He found that the program was confusing and flawed.
He also released an audit that claimed a dozen school districts had raised local taxes “while holding millions of dollars in their General Funds.” He said the audit identified districts that were moving around money to meet the state threshold to raise taxes, which he called a “shell game.” Critics said DeFoor lacked an understanding of the districts’ budgeting processes.
DeFoor also closed the bureau that audited schools, which his office said led to 11 layoffs. Those responsibilities were transferred back to the state Department of Education.
According to his campaign website, DeFoor’s second-term priorities include:
- Cutting “wasteful government spending” to protect taxpayers and strengthen the economy.
- Increasing transparency to make sure taxpayer dollars used in state programs are working.
DeFoor serves on the Harrisburg Area Community College Foundation Board of Directors, the State YMCA of Pennsylvania Board of Directors and the Chris “Handles” Franklin Foundation Board of Directors. He is a member of the Greater Harrisburg Area NAACP and the Pennsylvania State Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #78.
A month after DeFoor took office as auditor general in 2021, Kenyatta questioned him about election fraud claims at a state House committee hearing. At the time, skepticism about election integrity was high among Republicans after former President Donald Trump baselessly insisted his election had been subject to widespread fraud.
“I believe my election was fair,” DeFoor said. “As far as anybody else’s election, that’s a conversation that you would have to have with them, but I haven’t heard any complaints with regards to my specific election.”
Later that year, legislative Republicans boosted funding for his office in line with his budget request. However, GOP leaders said the funding was for DeFoor to audit election results.
In response, DeFoor argued that he lacked the authority to do so, and Wolf ended up vetoing the additional funding.
Endorsements: the Pennsylvania Republican Party; Pennsylvania Fraternal Order of Police; Pennsylvania State Troopers Association; Pennsylvania Chamber of Business & Industry; Pennsylvania Manufacturers Association.
Third-party candidates
Erik Anton, American Solidarity Party
Eric Anton, of Dauphin County, is running for auditor general as a member of the American Solidarity Party. He does not appear to have a website.
The third party’s platform says, “The state should be pluralistic while upholding a vision of the common good of all and of each individual informed by Christian tradition and acknowledging the primacy of religion in each person’s life.”
Alan Goodrich, Constitution Party
On the ballot for the Constitution Party, a conservative third party active in national politics, is Alan ‘Bob’ Goodrich, a Tioga County resident who runs a private Christian school.
Goodrich, a 25-year Army veteran who retired as a lieutenant colonel, ran for the office in 2012, but he dropped out before Election Day. He also unsuccessfully ran to be a county commissioner last year.
Reece Smith, Libertarian Party
Smith, based in the Pittsburgh suburb of Crafton, is a financial planning intern and a recent graduate of Allegheny College. On his website, he says he’d increase audits of local government bodies, specifically calling for reviews of spending within the governor’s office and among legislative leaders.
He also says he’d have “regular press conferences reviewing audit results and letting you know exactly what your money was spent on.”
This guide adapts a primary version written by Jannelle Andes, Genevieve Hartnett, Alaysia Lane, Bill Meincke and DJ Waller, graduate students at New York University in the American Journalism Online program. They reported this story as part of a collaboration with Spotlight PA.
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