“Get To Know Your PA 2024 Candidates,” a forum co-hosted by Democratic Jewish Outreach Pennsylvania (DJOP) and Montgomery County Democratic Women’s Leadership Initiative (WLI), was presented via Zoom Wednesday evening to provide voters an opportunity to learn more about Democratic candidates running in 2024 for state Attorney General, Auditor General and Treasurer.
“Part of our core mission is to educate our voters,” said DJOP chair Jill Zipin, who moderated the event. “We don’t endorse in primaries, but we certainly want our voters to know who’s running. It’s important that voters make an educated choice when they go into the voting booth.”
Historically, many voters have failed to pay sufficient attention to local or state-based races, but that is changing as electors have become more aware of how these political offices directly impact the day-to-day lives of Pennsylvanians across the state.
Some state primary races are crowded, with the office of the Attorney General having five candidates: Keir Bradford Grey, Eugene DePasquale, Joe Khan, Jared Solomon, and Jack Stellsteimer.
The Attorney General serves as the Chief Law Enforcement Officer of the Commonwealth, entrusted with prosecuting organized crime and corruption.
Three candidates running for Auditor General participated in the Zoom: Malcolm Kenyatta, Mark Pinsley, and Mark Rozzi.
The Auditor General’s mission is dedicated to enhancing government accountability, transparency, and the efficient utilization of taxpayer dollars for the benefit of the people of Pennsylvania.
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The office of Treasurer also has three candidates: Ryan Bizzarro, Alan Butkovitz, and Erin McClelland.
The state Treasurer holds the role of custodian for over $150 billion in Commonwealth funds, including receiving and depositing state money, as well as overseeing the investment and management of those funds.
Currently, two state offices, Auditor General and Treasurer are under Republican control.
Zipin asked each candidate to introduce themself and why they believe their experience and qualifications will push them across the primary finish line to run in the November general election.
“Tim DeFoor did one major audit as it related to schools and his major takeaway as parroted by the Commonwealth Foundation was that our schools were overfunded,” remarked Kenyatta.
The Commonwealth Foundation has sought to defund public education and works to promote privatization of K-12 schools.
“The biggest thing that I would not want is to see implementation of the Keystone Saves program,” said McClelland. Keystone Saves is a financial plan for retirement savings that Pennsylvania’s current Treasurer, Stacy Garrity, supports. “As I said, it’s unregulated, it’s unsafe, and it’s not recommended by the SEC. But I do have a replacement for that,” she added.
DePasquale, after reviewing why his qualifications make him uniquely experienced for the office of Attorney General, said that in the event he isn’t the primary winner, “I will be supporting whoever the Democratic nominee is,” a sentiment other candidates then echoed in their final comments.
The event is available online for those who missed the Zoom but are interested in learning more about the candidates.
Democratic Jewish Outreach Pennsylvania is the only state and federal Jewish Democratic Political Action Committee in the state. Montgomery County Women’s Leadership Initiative works to elect women who are Democratic candidates.
