Previewing the DeFoor-Kenyatta race for auditor general

Pennsylvania Auditor General Tim DeFoor made history in 2020. His opponent, state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, D-Philadelphia, hopes to do the same.

This year's race for auditor general pits the Republican DeFoor, the first Black person to win statewide office in Pennsylvania, against the Democrat Kenyatta, who hopes to be the first LGBTQ+ person elected to statewide office.

Tim DeFoor (R)

DeFoor, 62, is a former special investigator with Pennsylvania's Office of Inspector General, special agent for the state attorney general and controller of Dauphin County. He's a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh and Harrisburg University of Science and Technology.

The incumbent auditor general did not have an opponent in the Republican primary.

Issues:

• In cooperation with the Pennsylvania Legislature and by traveling across the state, DeFoor and his staff have pushed for "Be Money Smart," a financial literacy initative to be taught in K-12 schools.

• DeFoor's campaign has touted new "limited procedure" and "reduced period" engagements designed to improve efficiencies and, at times, cut the amount of time spent on audits at times by months.

Malcolm Kenyatta (D)

Kenyatta is a graduate of Temple and Drexel universities, and he completed the Harvard Kennedy School’s Executives in State and Local Government program. He ran for U.S. Senate in 2022, but was defeated in the primary by Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa.

Kenyatta qualified for the November ballot in this auditor general's race after besting fellow Democrat Mark Pinsley by 24 percentage points.

Issues:

• His campaign includes a pledge to create the first-ever Bureau of Labor and Worker Protections, which is to specialize in rooting out employee misclassification, union busting and wage theft.

• Kenyatta has said he'll demand transparency from large hospital nonprofits and other health care providers regarding how they use taxpayer money.

This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: PA Auditor General Tim DeFoor vs state Rep. Malcom Kenyatta