By Ian Karbal | Pennsylvania Capital-Star
During the latest fundraising period, Democrat Malcolm Kenyatta vastly outraised his Republican opponent in the Auditor General election, incumbent Tim DeFoor. That’s according to their latest campaign finance reports covering money raised and spent between May 14 and September 16.
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Kenyatta’s campaign reported raising $491,200 while DeFoor’s claimed $67,800. The difference is especially notable when, generally speaking, incumbents usually outraise their competitors.
Kenyatta also outspent DeFoor, paying $184,000 for various campaign expenses compared to $65,000 by DeFoor in the same period.
That leaves Kenyatta with nearly $416,000 in his campaign coffers, and DeFoor with just under $19,000 only weeks before the election.
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Alex Simmons, DeFoor’s campaign manager, cited a few reasons for the candidate’s disappointing haul.
“With PA being such a battleground, money needs to be going to other races,” said Alex Simmons, DeFoor’s campaign manager. “Because of that you have — how can I put this — the Auditor General race has typically been at the bottom of the totem pole.”
Simmons added that the legislature has become particularly competitive and absorbed a lot of Republican party resources and the attention of GOP donors this year. That is, in no small part, because of redistricting that occurred after DeFoor was first elected in 2020.
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Kenyatta had a different idea.
“If you look at an incumbent Auditor General who’s not even able to reach out to people across Pennsylvania and raise $100,000, I think it speaks to the fact that people don’t have a lot of faith in him,” Kenyatta said.
The largest share of Kenyatta’s campaign money — over $251,000 — comes from various political action committees.
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Some of his largest contributions come from various labor-affiliated PACs. That includes $50,000 across 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 a Philadelphia electric worker union.
Kenyatta is proud of this.
“I have a 100% pro-labor voting record,” he said. “I am never shy about being unequivocal in my support of standing up for unions, for organized labor and for workers.”
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Kenyatta also received thousands from fellow Democrats in the state legislature. It’s not uncommon for candidates in the same party to give to one another, 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 business or business interest, or conservative ideological group.
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Kenyatta also received a larger share of his funding — nearly $91,000, or a bit under 20% — from donations of $250 or less.
$26,000 of that comes from donations of $50 or less.
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DeFoor, on the other hand, received nearly $5,400 — or 8% of his fundraising — from donations of $250 or less.
Simmons, DeFoor’s campaign manager, said part of the auditor general’s lagging fundraising comes down to the candidate’s style.
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“Tim has never been a political person,” Simmons said. “He’s never been someone who has been a great campaigner. That’s not who he is. He’s not a politician.”
Though Simmons said he’s confident that DeFoor’s earnestness and “low profile” style will pay off on election day. He added that, in 2020, DeFoor was an underdog and had been outraised by his Democratic opponent, but still managed to win.
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In that race, DeFoor’s Democratic opponent, Nina Ahmad, managed to raise nearly $1 million more than him. But DeFoor was buoyed by a roughly equivalent lead in “in-kind contributions” — or help and advertising paid by someone other than his campaign.
If DeFoor is “not a politician,” according to his campaign manager, he stands in stark contrast to Kenyatta in that way. His star has been rising in both the Pennsylvania and national Democratic party.
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After becoming the first openly-LGBTQ person of color to serve in the state Legislature in 2018, Kenyatta was chosen to deliver a keynote address at the 2020 virtual Democratic National Convention. In 2023 he was again tapped by Biden to serve as chair of a presidential advisory commission on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence and Economic Opportunity for Black People. He received another speaking spot at the 2024 Democratic National Convention, and came prepared with a prop.
Kenyatta is also running unopposed to keep his state House seat this year.
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DeFoor, on the other hand, had only won a local election before running to be Auditor General in 2020.
When DeFoor won that election, he became the first Black auditor general in Pennsylvania’s history, and the first Republican to hold the office in the 21st century. But his biography made him something of a natural fit. DeFoor had previously served as a special agent investigating Medicaid fraud in the Pennsylvania attorney general’s office. And while serving as Dauphin County Controller, he created a new county audit division.
Since becoming auditor general, DeFoor has ruffled feathers. Most recently, his audit of the Department of Human Services’ oversight of Pharmacy Benefit Managers received criticism from DHS, as well as numerous Democrats, including Kenyatta.
Rep. Jessica Benham (D-Allegheny), who sponsored a bill creating new regulations for pharmacy benefit managers, and who has campaigned with Kenyatta, called the audit, which was critical of DHS, “deeply unserious and misleading.”
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Kenyatta called the audit “politically timed” and said in an interview with the Capital-Star, “what this audit proved to me is that he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”
DeFoor has defended his work.
“I think a lot of that is because of the election,” Simmons said about the Democratic criticism. “Obviously our competitor has tried to paint it as a political audit.”
DeFoor also refused to speak to the accuracy of the 2020 election — with a notable exception.
Shortly after taking office in 2021, DeFoor was questioned in the state House by none other than Kenyatta about the results of the 2020 election, which were being falsely refuted by former President Donald Trump and some other conservatives.
“I believe my election was fair,” DeFoor said at the time. “As far as anybody else’s election, that’s a conversation you would have to have with them.”
Pennsylvania Capital-Star is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Pennsylvania Capital-Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kim Lyons for questions: info@penncapital-star.com. Follow Pennsylvania Capital-Star on Facebook and Twitter.
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