During the most recent fundraising period, Democrat Malcolm Kenyatta significantly outperformed his Republican opponent for Auditor General, incumbent Tim DeFoor. That’s according to their latest campaign finance reports, covering money raised and spent between May 14 and September 16.
Kenyatta’s campaign raised $491,200 while DeFoor’s raised $67,800. The difference is especially perceptible when, for example, generally speakingincumbents tend to outperform their competitors.
Kenyatta also outperformed DeFoor, paying $184,000 in miscellaneous campaign expenses compared to $65,000 incurred by DeFoor during the same period.
That means Kenyatta has almost $416,000 in campaign coffers and DeFoor has just under $19,000 just weeks before the election.
Alex Simmons, DeFoor’s campaign manager, gave several reasons for the candidate’s disappointing performance.
“Because PA is a battleground state, money should be allocated to other races,” said Alex Simmons, DeFoor’s campaign manager. “For this reason, as I may put it, the Auditor General race has typically been at the bottom of the totem pole.”
Simmons added that the Legislature has become particularly competitive this year and has consumed a lot of GOP resources and the attention of GOP donors. This is largely due to the redistricting that occurred after DeFoor’s first election in 2020.
Kenyatta had another idea.
“If you look at the incumbent Auditor General who can’t even reach out to people across Pennsylvania and raise $100,000, I think that shows that people don’t have a lot of confidence in him,” Kenyatta said.
The largest portion of Kenyatta’s campaign money – more than $251,000 – comes from various political action committees.
Some of his biggest contributions have come from various union-affiliated PACs. This includes $50,000 from two donations from the D.C.-based American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, $25,000 from the Greater PA Carpenters PAC and $20,000 from the Philadelphia Electrical Workers Union.
Kenyatta is proud of this.
“I vote 100% for the workers,” he said. “I am never shy about standing unequivocally for unions, organized labor and workers.”
Kenyatta also received thousands of votes from other Democrats in the state legislature. It is not uncommon for candidates from the same party to gift to each other, especially when the donor is in a less competitive race.
DeFoor also received the largest share of his money – $40,000 – from political action committees.
PACs donating to DeFoor were more likely to represent a specific company or business interest or a conservative ideological group.
Kenyatta also received the bulk of his funds – almost $91,000, or just under 20% – from donations of $250 or less.
Of that, $26,000 comes from donations of $50 or less.
DeFoor, on the other hand, received almost $5,400 — or 8% of his fundraising — from donations of $250 or less.
Simmons, DeFoor’s campaign manager, said some of the auditor general’s fundraising delays are due to the candidate’s style.
“Tim was never a political person,” Simmons said. “He was never a great activist. He’s not like that. He’s not a politician.”
Though Simmons said he’s confident DeFoor’s seriousness and “low style” will pay off on Election Day. He added that DeFoor was an underdog in 2020 and was outperformed by his Democratic opponent, but he still managed to win.
In that race, DeFoor’s Democratic opponent, Nina Ahmad, managed to raise almost $1 million more than his. But DeFoor was positive about the roughly equal share of “in-kind contributions” — that is, aid and advertising paid for by someone other than his campaign.
If DeFoor is “not a politician,” according to his campaign manager, then he stands in stark contrast to Kenyatta in that respect. His star is rising in both Pennsylvania and the National Democratic Party.
After becoming the first openly LGBTQ person of color to serve in the state legislature in 2018, Kenyatta was selected to deliver the keynote address at the virtual Democratic National Convention in 2020. In 2023, Biden re-elected him to chair the Presidential Advisory Commission on .Improving equity, excellence and economic opportunity in education for Black people. He landed another speaking engagement at the 2024 Democratic National Convention, and he came prepared with support.
Kenyatta is also seeking to retain his seat in the House of Representatives this year unopposed.
DeFoor, meanwhile, only won local elections before running for Auditor General in 2020.
When DeFoor won that election, he became the first black auditor general in Pennsylvania history and the first Republican to hold that office in the 21st century. But his biography made him something of a natural fit. DeFoor previously served as a special agent investigating Medicaid fraud in the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office. While serving as Dauphin County Comptroller, he created a recent county audit department.
Since DeFoor became auditor general, his feathers have been ruffled. He recently conducted an audit of the Department of Human Services’ oversight of pharmacy benefit managers was met with criticism from DHS, as well as numerous Democrats, including Kenyatta.
Rep. Jessica Benham (R-Allegheny), who sponsored the bill establishing recent regulations for pharmacy benefit managers and who campaigned with Kenyatta, called for an audit that was critical of DHS: “deeply unserious and misleading.”
Kenyatta called the audit “political at the time” and told the Capital-Star: “This audit has proven to me that he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”
DeFoor defended his work.
“I think a lot of it is due to the election,” Simmons said of the Democratic criticism. “Obviously our competitor tried to present it as a political audit.”
DeFoora too refused to comment on the regularity of the 2020 elections – with a notable exception.
Shortly after taking office in 2021, DeFoor was questioned in the House of Representatives by none other than Kenyatta regarding the 2020 election results, which were falsely overturned by former President Donald Trump and some other conservatives.
“I believe my choice was fair,” DeFoor said at the time. “As far as choosing anyone else, that’s a conversation you need to have with them.”
