Timothy Lionel DeFoor (born November 18, 1961) is an American politician who currently serves as the

Pennsylvania Auditor General The Pennsylvania auditor general is the chief fiscal officer of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It became an elected office in 1850. The current auditor general of Pennsylvania is Republican Timothy DeFoor. History The office of the auditor ...

. He previously served as the

Controller Controller may refer to: Occupations * Controller or financial controller, or in government accounting comptroller, a senior accounting position * Controller, someone who performs agent handling in espionage * Air traffic controller, a person ...

Dauphin County, Pennsylvania Dauphin County (; Pennsylvania Dutch: Daffin Kaundi) is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 286,401. The county seat and the largest city is Harrisburg, Pennsylvania's state capital and ninth ...

. He is a member of the Republican Party. DeFoor's victory in the 2020 Pennsylvania Auditor General election made him the first

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

and person of color to win election to statewide executive office in Pennsylvania, and the second to hold statewide office following Tim Reese. Upon taking office as Auditor General, DeFoor also became the first Republican to hold that office since

Barbara Hafer Barbara Hafer (born August 1, 1943) is an American politician and convicted felon from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. She served as a member of the Allegheny County Board of Commissioners from 1984 to 1989, as the Auditor General of Pennsylvan ...

, who left office in 1997.

Education

Prior to attending college, DeFoor graduated from

Susquehanna Township High School Susquehanna Township High School (STHS) is a mid-sized, public high school located in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania serving students from Susquehanna Township. The school provides grades 9 through 12. In the 2017–18 school year, the school had 788 p ...

. DeFoor holds an associate degree in paralegal studies from

Harrisburg Area Community College , mottoeng = Knowledge Restores Truth , established = 1964, accredited in 1967 , type = Public, Community College , president = John J. "Ski" Sygielski, Ed.D. , city = Harrisburg , state = PA , country = USA , undergrad = 19,000 , admin ...

. He also graduated from Pennsylvania State University with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in psychology, and earned a second bachelor's degree from the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the univers ...

in sociology and history. DeFoor earned a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in project management from

Harrisburg University of Science and Technology Harrisburg University of Science & Technology, commonly referred to as Harrisburg University (HU), is a private STEM-focused university in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, with an additional location in Philadelphia. Founded in 2001 as Harrisburg Polyte ...

Career

Early career

DeFoor began his career in 1986 as an investigator for the Dauphin County public defender's office. He subsequently worked as an investigator for Pennsylvania's Office of the Inspector General and the

Pennsylvania Attorney General The Pennsylvania Attorney General is the chief law enforcement officer of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It became an elected office in 1980. The current Attorney General is Democrat Josh Shapiro. On August 15, 2016, then-Attorney General Kat ...

. He has also worked as an internal auditor and fraud investigator for UPMC Health Plan, and as a consultant for

Booz Allen Hamilton Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation (informally Booz Allen) is the parent of Booz Allen Hamilton Inc., an American management and information technology consulting firm, headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in Greater Washington, D.C., with 8 ...

County controller

DeFoor won election to the office of Dauphin County controller in 2015, defeating Democratic nominee Eric Gutshall. He was the first African American to win election to a county row office in Dauphin County. During his first term as controller, DeFoor's work won recognition from the

Government Finance Officers Association The Government Finance Officers Association (or GFOA) is a professional association of approximately 19,000 state, provincial, and local government finance officers in the United States and Canada. GFOA is headquartered in downtown Chicago. Name ...

. DeFoor then won re-election in 2019, running unopposed. After being elected Auditor General, DeFoor submitted his resignation as county controller on December 21, 2020, to take effect on the morning of January 19, 2021. Mary Bateman was elected on November 2, 2021, to succeed him as controller.

Auditor General

DeFoor announced his intent to run in the 2020 Pennsylvania Auditor General election on December 19, 2019. DeFoor was endorsed by the

Republican State Committee of Pennsylvania The Pennsylvania Republican Party (PAGOP) is the affiliate of the Republican Party in the state of Pennsylvania. It is headquartered in Harrisburg. History Founding The party was founded on November 27, 1854, in Towanda ( Bradford County) by ...

in January 2020, leading one of his Republican primary opponents, Dennis Stuckey, to withdraw from the race. The other remaining Republican in the field,

Cris Dush Cris E. Dush is an American far-right politician. A Republican, he has been a member of the Pennsylvania State Senate since 2020, elected from the 25th District. From 2014 to 2020, Dush was a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representati ...

, later withdrew to seek a seat in the Pennsylvania State Senate, leaving DeFoor as the sole candidate in the Republican primary. In the general election, DeFoor was pitted against Dr. Nina Ahmad, a progressive activist and former deputy mayor of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

. On November 6, 2020, the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...

called the race for DeFoor. DeFoor took office as Auditor General on January 19, 2021, succeeding Democrat

Eugene DePasquale Eugenio Anthony DePasquale (born August 3, 1971) is an American Democratic politician who served as the Pennsylvania Auditor General from 2013 to 2021. From 2007 to 2013, he served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, representing the ...

. In his inaugural address, DeFoor paid tribute to figures such as

John Lewis John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American politician and civil rights activist who served in the United States House of Representatives for from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashville ...

, who he credited with paving the way for himself to enter politics, and pledged to "look at every issue through a non-partisan lens." He further pledged to maintain members of DePasquale's staff who he felt were capable, and stated that one of his first priorities as Auditor General would be to complete an audit of Governor

Tom Wolf Thomas Westerman Wolf (born November 17, 1948) is an American politician and businessman serving as the 47th governor of Pennsylvania since 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he defeated Republican incumbent Tom Corbett in the 2014 gu ...

's COVID-19 business waiver program.

Electoral history

References

Vote Smart Vote Smart, formerly called Project Vote Smart, is a non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States. It covers candidates and elected officials in s ...

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:DeFoor, Timothy 21st-century American politicians African-American people in Pennsylvania politics Black conservatism in the United States Living people Pennsylvania Auditors General Pennsylvania Republicans Pennsylvania State University alumni People from Dauphin County, Pennsylvania University of Pittsburgh alumni 21st-century African-American politicians 1961 births