SIOUX CITY, Iowa — The wife of a northwestern Iowa county supervisor has been charged with 52 counts of voter fraud after she allegedly filled out and cast absentee ballots in her husband's unsuccessful race for a Republican nomination to run for Congress in 2020, federal prosecutors said. Kim Phuong Taylor, 49, was arrested Thursday and pleaded not guilty to the charges before being released on a personal recognizance bond, the Sioux City Journal reported. Her trial is scheduled to begin March 20. Prosecutors allege in an indictment unsealed Thursday that Phuong Taylor filled out voter registration forms or delivered absentee ballots for people in Sioux City's Vietnamese community who had limited ability to read and understand English. She filled out "dozens of voter registrations, absentee ballot request forms, and absentee ballots containing false information," and delivered absentee ballots, sometimes without the knowledge of the people whose names were used, according to the indictment.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Black and Hispanic voters in Wisconsin’s largest city say a Republican state election commissioner publicly applauding GOP strategies he credits with depressing minority turnout are a public admission of a conservative strategy in place for years. “He’s proudly telling Hispanic and Latino voters, ‘I’m your enemy, and I’m actively using my position of power to undermine your voting rights,’ ” said Christine Neumann-Ortiz, executive director of Voces de la Frontera, an advocacy group for immigrants. Robert Spindell, the election commissioner who also acted as a fake Republican elector for former President Donald Trump in 2020, did not back down. He rejected calls from liberals and a fellow Democratic commissioner to resign, and said he does not support suppressing turnout. Spindell said he was merely touting efforts by the GOP to counter liberal messaging in the Democratic stronghold of Milwaukee. High turnout there is key to Democrats winning statewide. From the archives (December 2019): Trump campaign adviser tells Wisconsin Republicans in secret recording that voting-place tactics will be stepped up Spindell, a former Milwaukee election official, said in an email newsletter that Republicans “can be especially proud” of lowered turnout in Milwaukee during the 2022 election, “with the major reduction happening in the overwhelming Black and Hispanic areas.” Spindell, who is white, cited midterm results by precinct that showed lower overall turnout in predominantly Black and Hispanic neighborhoods in Milwaukee, by far the state’s largest city, compared with the last midterm election in 2018. A voter makes his way to a Milwaukee polling place on Nov. 8. AP/Morry Gash/File It’s not clear what effect Republican efforts in Milwaukee had on the behaviors of Black and Hispanic voters, even as Spindell’s email detailed a number of strategies targeting those communities. Among them: “Negative Black Radio Commercials.” Two of the ads paid for by the Republican Party of Wisconsin, and obtained by the Associated Press, hit Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers and Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, who ran for U.S. Senate. In one ad, a stern-sounding narrator alleges that Evers and Barnes “failed miserably” in protecting families from “violence, mayhem and death.” In another spot, the same narrator says Evers did not help students of color do better in school or support allowing public-school students to use a taxpayer-funded voucher to attend private schools. Wisconsin has long faced the nation’s largest achievement gap between white and Black students, the vast majority of whom live in Milwaukee. Evers won re-election, but Barnes narrowly lost to Republican incumbent Ron Johnson. Spindell said in his email that turnout in Milwaukee was down by 37,000 voters compared with 2018. Barnes lost his Senate race by just under 27,000 votes. Barnes, who is Black and from Milwaukee, declined to comment on Spindell’s remarks. From the archives (October 2022): Ron Johnson draws laughter and jeers in Wisconsin debate vs. Senate challenger Mandela Barnes Wisconsin does not record the race or ethnicity of voters, and John Johnson, a researcher at Marquette University Law School, cautioned against drawing conclusions about racial voting patterns from such limited information. Johnson’s own analysis of election results also indicated a decline in voter turnout in majority-Black and majority-Hispanic wards in 2022, but the most recently available demographic data comes from the 2020 census, which the city of Milwaukee has contested amid claims that it gives outdated information on the voting-age population. From the archives (March 2022): 2020 Census count disproportionately missed Black, Hispanic and Native residents Regardless of the actual turnout levels, Neumann-Ortiz said she has seen a lack of enthusiasm among Hispanic voters, many of whom are reported to have said they don’t feel represented. She attributed the problem to Wisconsin’s state legislative maps, which give Republican lawmakers a strong majority in both chambers in a state where voters elected Democrats as governor, attorney general and secretary of state. “Disenchantment has produced lower levels of participation,” Neumann-Ortiz said. “If they genuinely wanted to make inroads, they would stop trying to undermine the ability of Latinos to vote.” Organizers in Milwaukee’s Black community echoed that sentiment on the campaign trail in 2022, describing young Black voters as disaffected and tough to mobilize while working to elect Barnes as the state’s first Black U.S. senator. Polling also shows there was a modest national increase in Black support for Republicans in the midterm. Still, advocates in Milwaukee say years of Republican-led efforts to make it more difficult to vote were really thinly veiled attempts to silence voters in Democrat-heavy Milwaukee, where Black and Hispanic residents account for about 60% of the population. Under former Republican Gov. Scott Walker, Republicans in Wisconsin flexed their muscle to implement a voter ID proposal and limit the days and hours of early voting. The conservative-controlled Wisconsin Supreme Court last year enacted other GOP priorities when it outlawed ballot drop boxes and said voters cannot have someone else return a ballot on their behalf. Courts also have limited clerks’ abilities to fill in missing ballot information, such as incomplete addresses. Neumann-Ortiz called the efforts “death by 1,000 cuts to create barriers.” “Election after election, we are left as a Black organization to have to explain why Black turnout decreases in some areas,” Kyle Johnson, political director of the Milwaukee-based Black Leaders Organizing for Communities, said in a statement. “Many of us have been sounding the alarm about how sinister voter suppression tactics have become, and Spindell’s comments reinforce what we already knew.” From the archives (August 2022): A ‘few percentage points in Wisconsin may well determine what the course of the nation is in the coming years,’ says former Democratic governor

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — The wife of a northwestern Iowa county supervisor has been charged with 52 counts of voter fraud after she allegedly filled out and cast absentee ballots in her husband's unsuccessful race for a Republican nomination to run for Congress in 2020, federal prosecutors said.Kim Phuong Taylor, 49, was arrested Thursday and pleaded not guilty to the charges before being released on a personal recognizance bond, the Sioux City Journal reported. Her trial is scheduled to begin March 20.Prosecutors allege in an indictment unsealed Thursday that Phuong Taylor filled out voter registration forms or delivered absentee ballots for people in Sioux City's Vietnamese community who had limited ability to read and understand English.She filled out "dozens of voter registrations, absentee ballot request forms, and absentee ballots containing false information," and delivered absentee ballots, sometimes without the knowledge of the people whose names were used, according to the indictment.Pat Gill, who is Woodbury County's auditor and election commissioner, said Thursday that he notified the Iowa secretary of state's office after someone contacted his office because a ballot had been fraudulently cast in their name in November 2020.He said his office later provided the FBI with suspected fraudulent registration forms and absentee ballots.Phuong Taylor committed the fraud before the June 2020 primary, in which her husband, Jeremy Taylor, a former Iowa House member, finished a distant third in the race for the Republican nomination to run for Iowa's 4th District congressional seat, prosecutors allege. The winner of that race, Randy Feenstra, easily won election to Congress that November.Prosecutors contend that Phuong Taylor committed the same fraud before the November 2020 election in which Jeremy Taylor was elected to the Woodbury County Board, according to the indictment.Jeremy Taylor is not named in the indictment and is not accused of wrongdoing.Kim Phuong Taylor's attorney, John Greer of Spencer, Iowa, declined to comment on the charges, the Journal reported.Download our apps today for all of our latest coverage.Get the latest news and weather delivered straight to your inbox.

Sixteen Michigan GOP electors are being sued over documents claiming that former President Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election. The lawsuit was filed by three Democratic electors. In the suit, the three claimed the GOP electors tried to cast Michigan's votes fraudulently for Trump, even creating a fake certificate declaring Trump the winner, which they put forward as an official record. MICHIGAN AND CALIFORNIA INSTITUTIONS BAN THE WORD 'FIELD' AS RACIST "Despite the results of a free and fair election in Michigan, canvassed and certified according to Michigan Election Law, the defendants participated in a fraudulent scheme to steal the election and install the losing candidate (Donald Trump) as President," the Democratic electors wrote. The 16 GOP electors created a “certificate signed by the defendants and styled ‘Certificate of the Votes of the 2020 Electors from Michigan,' which they offered as an official public record,” the suit claimed. It goes on to say the group “convened and organized in the State Capitol on December 14, 2020 to cast Michigan’s 16 electoral votes for Donald Trump, when in fact none of this was true.” Instead, the suit said the group attempted to enter the Capitol but was denied access. The suit also alleged that the scheme was closely coordinated with the Trump campaign and Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel. CLICK HERE FOR MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER The three plaintiffs are seeking damages worth at least $25,000, claiming that they “suffered humiliation, mental anguish and stress as a result of being cast in the false light created by defendants’ election fraud and lies.”

A recount of the 2020 presidential race conducted this week in a Pennsylvania county did not find any major discrepancies from the original results.Lycoming County employees spent nearly three days hand-counting more than 59,000 ballots after more than a year’s worth of pressure from local elections skeptics resulted in the county commissioners voting along party lines to recount the 2020 presidential and state auditor general’s race.The recount was completed more quickly than expected. After counting from 8:30 a.m. to roughly 5 p.m. on Monday and Tuesday, the ballots remaining Wednesday were counted in less than two hours, an overall average pace of 55.5 ballots per minute.Lycoming County elections director Forrest Lehman hardly left the room, as he was eager to complete the process before his wife was scheduled to give birth next week.Lycoming’s original results, tabulated by machines, showed 59,397 votes cast in the presidential contest, with 41,462 going to former President Donald Trump and 16,971 going to President Joe Biden. The hand recount resulted in a total of 59,374 votes in the presidential race, with Trump receiving 7 fewer votes and Biden receiving 15 fewer votes compared with the original tally..In the auditor general’s race, the original tally was 58,627 votes cast, though the hand recount only found 58,615. Republican Auditor General Tim DeFoor’s winning vote total dropped by 10, and Democratic challenger Nina Ahmad’s total increased by 11.Lehman said the county is still reviewing the hand count and plans to have a more expansive version of the report explaining the small changes later this month. How was the recount performed?Roughly 20 employees, working in teams of one reader and one recorder, counted 183 batches of ballots which had been organized by type: in-person, mail, and provisional.The count was performed on an empty office floor in a county building in Williamsport. Three rows of white folding tables were set up, and workers spaced themselves at least one table apart.Except for the low hum of the building’s heating unit and the sound of workers turning ballots and reading the votes, the room was mostly quiet.Lehman sat at a table at one end of the room near a storage closet with the batches of ballots. Workers came to his table to sign batches in and out, and ask questions.Each team had a slightly different approach. Some wore disposable rubber finger page turners, while others simply licked their fingers to make sure two ballots weren’t stuck together.And while some teams counted both the presidential and auditor general’s race at once, others tallied one race completely before starting the same ballots over to capture the second race.Human error impacts accuracy of processLehman repeatedly cautioned before and during the hand count that results would be less accurate due to the potential for human error, something that does not exist when ballots are counted by machine.Many of the issues he highlighted were on display throughout the week.The total number of ballots counted in roughly 18 batches this week did not match the previously recorded result, so with extra time at their disposal, workers counted those batches again. In all but five or six cases, Lehman said, employees discovered that mismatches were due to human error in the recount process — not the original count from poll workers on election night.For example, a worker counting a batch from Jersey Shore, a borough in the county, originally counted three or four fewer ballots in the batch, although poll workers on election night had reported 363 ballots. A recount of the batch also showed 363 ballots.Lehman said that these mismatches, known as “ballot inventory errors,” are generally due to poll workers writing the wrong numbers down on their inventory sheets on election night.For their part, counters also occasionally became distracted and had to restart, miscounted ballots, or wrote the wrong numbers down on their vote tally sheets.For example, one team of ballot counters turned in a tally sheet with 41 tally marks for a candidate, but wrote 44 in the “total” line, a mistake that was later caught and corrected.Workers occasionally got off track. A black Labrador also roamed the room looking for leftover food from the catered lunches, and workers gave him affectionate pets as he passed under their tables.“The machines don’t get tired, get distracted,” Lehman said while relaying an instance of a counter being so burnt out that, despite recounting a batch multiple times, they kept coming up with different numbers.Another team counted 408 ballots in its batch, though the original count indicated the number should be 412. A county worker then discovered three ballots were stuck to the bottom of the box and the team recounted the whole batch, ultimately arriving at 412. Will the results change any opinions?Lehman noted that the goal of the exercise was not 100% accuracy, what he would be seeking if these were being used as the official results. Rather, it was to prove the accuracy of the machine tabulation system.Karen DiSalvo — a volunteer with Audit the Vote PA, an election conspiracy group — agreed in a statement before the count that this was the goal, as did Don Peters, chair of the county GOP committee, in an interview on the first day of the count.“Our interest with this is in ensuring voters, not just our voters but all Lycoming voters, that this portion of the system functions,” he said. “I think there’s this idea that we want to find some issues. We don’t.”But others think there is no outcome that would satisfy those who have spent the last two years questioning the results.“They are using this as a vehicle to shout about their grievances,” said Morgan Allyn, the former chair of the county’s Democratic party.Allyn was there as an observer for the party, and thinks that when the results disappoint recount backers again, they will move the goalpost.There’s been some sign of this already. Lycoming Patriots, one of the conservative groups that pushed for the recount, sued the county last month for not fully implementing a series of election changes the group had sought in addition to the recount.And DiSalvo has already sought to cast doubt on the results of the recount. She questioned the accuracy of the results even before they were posted, saying that because Lehman was the one counting the vote tally sheets, the results would be suspect because he had a “vested interest.”DiSalvo complained about not having access to the tally sheets, but said if the results are accurate, “it confirms our position that hand counts can be done quickly and economically and should be a part of every election going forward.”Peters said he thinks it will give people more confidence in the system.“I think there was a total of maybe 37 discrepancies, so yeah that’s not a deal breaker,” he said. “But you get to half a percent, I think maybe there’s something to worry about.”He said that it was “a win for democracy” to see the system was working correctly and have that question answered for constituents. The only complaint he had was the same as DiSalvo’s, that voter services tallied the final results.“I have no issue with Forrest Lehman, but transparency requires someone outside to do that.”Lycoming County is unique, not just because it was the only county to recount its 2020 election by hand, but also because of Lehman himself.While many elections directors left in the wake of 2020′s threats against election workers, and others have declined to speak out against claims of fraud, Lehman has consistently pushed back against misinformation and conspiracy theories.Asked if he is ever concerned that his outspokenness will compromise his safety or job security, he said “no,” and added that he felt it was his civic duty to correct misinformation.“Because I’m an Eagle Scout, I believe in being true to yourself and leaving every campsite better than you found it,” Lehman said. “Whether that’s an actual campsite or your community.”90.5 WESA partners with Spotlight PA, a collaborative, reader-funded newsroom producing accountability journalism for all of Pennsylvania. More at spotlightpa.org.

ATLANTA — (AP) — Georgia's most populous county has a history of problems with its elections but has also shown considerable improvement, and the state should not step in to take over its elections, a bipartisan review panel said.The State Election Board appointed the three-person panel in August 2021 after Republican lawmakers used a provision of a sweeping election law passed earlier that year to request a review of Fulton County's handling of elections. The report was submitted on Friday to the board and the Secretary of State's office.Fulton County includes most of the city of Atlanta and is home to about 11% of the state’s electorate. A Democratic stronghold, it has long been targeted by Republicans.The report says that in previous years Fulton County's elections have been plagued by “disorganization and a lack of a sense of urgency in resolving issues.” But it also says the county showed “significant improvement” from 2020 to 2022, former staff members have left and “new staff can bring new energy and renewed commitment."The Fulton County Board of Elections and Registration is a driving force behind those improvements, the report says.“Replacing the board would not be helpful and would in fact hinder the ongoing improvements to Fulton County elections,” it says.County officials applauded the findings.“The Performance Review Board's report affirms what we already know — our staff work every day to serve Fulton County voters and deliver free and fair elections in compliance with the law,” Cathy Woolard, chair of the Fulton elections board, said in a news release.State Election Board Chair William Duffey said last month that the board will discuss the panel's recommendations at its Feb. 7 meeting.Republican lawmakers whose districts include parts of Fulton in July 2021 submitted a letter to the State Election Board noting the county's history of problems and demanding answers.Former President Donald Trump had zeroed in on the county after he lost Georgia by a slim margin in the November 2020 general election. In phone calls to state election officials and in public comments, Trump made unfounded claims of widespread election fraud in Fulton.Actions he took as he tried to overturn his election loss, including a phone call to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, led Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to open an ongoing investigation into whether Trump and others illegally meddled in the state’s election.The review panel named by the State Election Board included Stephen Day, a Democratic appointee to the Gwinnett County election board; Ricky Kittle, a Republican appointee to the Catoosa County election board; and Ryan Germany, general counsel for the Secretary of State’s office.The panel considered the county's performance in 2020 and observed operations before, on and after Election Day for the 2021 municipal elections and the 2022 primary and general votes, the report says. The panel also relied on help from The Carter Center, which regularly monitors elections around the world and was invited to observe the 2022 general election in Fulton County.The county has "a long and well-documented history of issues administering elections," the report says, including long lines and inefficiency in reporting results. Its shortcomings were particularly pronounced during the 2020 primary, resulting in a consent order between the county and the State Election Board that included the appointment of an independent monitor for the general election that year.That monitor, Carter Jones, said he found sloppy practices and poor management but no evidence of "any dishonesty, fraud or intentional malfeasance."Many of the county's issues in 2020 stemmed from or were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, but some of the county's responses to that made things even worse, the panel found.The county's election process was more organized in 2022 than in 2021, which showed improvement over 2020, the report says. A number of changes, including implementing an inventory tracking system for elections equipment, creating new management positions and filling others, helped to spread responsibility and improve performance in key areas, according to the report.The panel nevertheless recommended areas for additional improvement, such as poll worker training, general organization and polling place layout review.The controversial takeover provision in the 2021 election law allows state lawmakers who represent a county to request a review of local election officials and their practices. The State Election Board must then appoint a review panel that is required to investigate and issue a report.If the state board finds evidence that county officials violated state election law or rules three times in the previous two election cycles and have not fixed violations, it could eventually suspend the county board. The law also says the state board could remove the county board if it finds that during at least two elections over two years the county board has shown “nonfeasance, malfeasance, or gross negligence.”If a county board is removed, the state board would appoint a temporary administrator.Democrats and voting rights activists complained when the law was passed that the takeover provision would open the door for political interference in local elections and could suppress turnout. Republicans said it was necessary to make sure county election officials are following the law.Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

The panel's report, obtained by The Associated Press, was submitted on Friday to the State Election Board and the Secretary of State’s Office. FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — Georgia’s most populous county has a history of problems with its elections but has also shown considerable improvement, and the state should not step in to take over its elections, according to a report by a bipartisan review panel. The State Election Board appointed the three-person panel in August 2021 after Republican lawmakers used a provision of a sweeping election law passed earlier that year to request a review of Fulton County’s handling of elections.  The report, obtained by The Associated Press, was submitted on Friday to the board and the Secretary of State’s Office. RELATED: One day after elections, Fulton County Elections Director Richard Barron steps down The report says that in previous years that Fulton County's elections have been plagued by “disorganization and a lack of a sense of urgency in resolving issues.” But it also notes that the county showed “significant improvement” from 2020 to 2022, that old staff members have left and “new staff can bring new energy and renewed commitment." The Fulton County Board of Elections and Registration is a driving force behind those improvements, the report says. “Replacing the board would not be helpful and would in fact hinder the ongoing improvements to Fulton County elections,” it says. State Election Board Chair William Duffey said during a meeting last month that the board will discuss the panel's recommendations at its Feb. 7 meeting. The review panel said in a statement Friday that it looks forward to presenting its report at that time. Fulton County includes most of the city of Atlanta and is home to about 11% of the state’s electorate. A Democratic stronghold, it has long been targeted by Republicans. Several Republican lawmakers whose districts include parts of Fulton in July 2021 submitted a letter to the State Election Board noting the county's history of problems and demanding answers. Former President Donald Trump had zeroed in on Fulton after he lost Georgia by a slim margin in the November 2020 general election. In phone calls to state election officials and in public comments, Trump made unfounded claims of widespread election fraud in the county. Some of the actions he took as he tried to overturn his election loss, including a phone call to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, led Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to open an investigation into whether Trump and others illegally meddled in the state’s election. The Fulton County review panel appointed by the State Election Board included Stephen Day, a Democratic appointee to the Gwinnett County election board; Ricky Kittle, a Republican appointee to the Catoosa County election board; and Ryan Germany, general counsel for the Secretary of State’s office. The review panel considered the county's performance in 2020 and then observed pre-election, Election Day and post-election operations during the 2021 municipal elections and during the 2022 primary, general and runoff elections, the report says. The panel also relied on help from The Carter Center, which regularly monitors elections around the world and was invited to observe the 2022 general election in Fulton County. Fulton County has “a long and well-documented history of issues administering elections,” the report says. Those include long lines, inefficiency in reporting election results and other issues. Its shortcomings were particularly pronounced during the 2020 primary election, resulting in a consent order between the county and the State Election Board that included the appointment of an independent monitor for the general election that year. That monitor, Carter Jones, observed the county’s practices before, during and after the 2020 general election. He said he found sloppy practices and poor management but no evidence of “any dishonesty, fraud or intentional malfeasance.” Many of the county's issues in 2020 stemmed from or were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, but some of the county's responses to that made things even worse, the panel found. The county's election process was more organized in 2022 than in 2021, which showed improvement over 2020, the report says. The county has made a number of changes, including implementing an inventory tracking system for elections equipment and creating new management positions and filling others, which helped to spread responsibility and improve performance in key areas, the report says. While the county showed significant improvement, the panel recommended areas for additional work. Those include poll worker training, general organization, compliance with regulations for ballot review and reviewing polling place layout. The controversial takeover provision in the 2021 election law allows state lawmakers who represent a county to request a review of local election officials and their practices. The State Election Board must then appoint a review panel that is required to issue a report after a thorough investigation. The law says that if the state board finds evidence that county officials violated state election law or rules three times in the previous two election cycles and have not fixed violations, it could eventually suspend the county board. It also says the state board could remove the county board if it finds that during at least two elections over two years the county board has shown “nonfeasance, malfeasance, or gross negligence.” If the county board is removed, the state board would appoint a temporary administrator. Democrats and voting rights activists complained when the law was passed that the takeover provision would open the door for political interference in local elections and could suppress turnout. Republicans said it was necessary to make sure county election officials are following the law. [embedded content]

Philadelphia State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta is preparing to run for auditor general next year, a move that reflects the Democrat’s rising profile since his unsuccessful bid for U.S. Senate.Kenyatta said Friday he is “seriously, seriously considering” the race and said being the state’s fiscal watchdog is an opportunity to “keep taxpayers and working people from being screwed.”“What we need in the auditor is somebody who is actually going to speak out and talk about what’s wrong,” he said, “and also be collaborative in trying to fix it.”The three-term lawmaker is set to appear at a fund-raiser Saturday in Allegheny County hosted by a handful of western Pennsylvania Democratic donors and activists. If Kenyatta decides to officially get in the race, he’d likely make an announcement this spring.AdvertisementThe auditor general’s office is currently held by Timothy L. DeFoor, a first-term Republican and the former controller of Dauphin County. DeFoor in 2020 became the first Republican in more than two decades to win the office, and he clashed with Kenyatta shortly after his election.During a hearing before the House state government committee called in early 2021 to review the state’s election auditing process, Kenyatta pressed DeFoor to affirm the results of the 2020 election. DeFoor refused, saying only that he believed his race was fair. Later on the floor of the House, Kenyatta said DeFoor “can’t call a ball, he can’t call a strike, he’s a coward.”» READ MORE: Who is Malcolm Kenyatta, the Pennsylvania state representative who ran for Senate?Kenyatta was widely expected to seek higher office following the U.S. Senate race last year, which put him on the radar statewide. He developed a reputation for running a hard-charging campaign, demonstrating strong social media prowess, and knowing how to create viral moments.Still, he wasn’t able to catch up to John Fetterman, who was an early front-runner and won decisively. U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb of Western Pennsylvania came in second. Despite finishing third, Kenyatta traveled across Pennsylvania for months to aggressively stump for Fetterman ahead of the general election.Kenyatta, 32, has long been a progressive activist and has described himself as a fighter for working people. In 2018, he became the first Black, openly LGBTQ person elected to serve in the General Assembly. Prior to serving in the legislature, he worked on diversity initiatives at the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce.Becoming the auditor general can serve as a springboard to higher office. Sen. Bob Casey Jr. (D., Pa.) served two terms in the office, as did his father, Bob Casey Sr., who went on to become governor. Eugene DePasquale, a Democrat who preceded DeFoor in the office, unsuccessfully challenged U.S. Rep. Scott Perry for a seat in Congress in 2020.