Eugene DePasquale

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In April 2011, DePasquale announced that he would be running for State Auditor General in 2012 to succeed incumbent Jack Wagner, who was term-limited. [13] DePasquale made Marcellus shale drilling a central issue of his campaign, and promised to order an immediate performance audit of the Department of Environmental Protection to ensure the state's water supply had not been compromised by drilling. [14] He defeated Republican state representative John Maher in the fall general election. [15] Both Maher and DePasquale were concurrently re-elected without opposition to their seats in the state house. [16]

DePasquale resigned his seat in the state house on January 15, 2013, and was sworn-in as auditor general later that day. He became the first person from York County to assume statewide elected office since George Leader was elected governor in 1954. [17]

2016

In the 2016 election, DePasquale was reelected auditor general with 50% of the vote, defeating Republican John Brown. [18]

Tenure

In July 2014, DePasquale announced results of an audit of the Department of Environmental Protection's (DEP) water programs related to the development of the state's shale gas reserves. [19] Results of that audit showed the DEP had been unprepared to effectively administer laws and regulations to protect drinking water and unable to efficiently respond to citizen complaints in the period 2009-2012. [20] [21] The report cited sloppy record-keeping, lax oversight, and poor communication with citizens. [22]

In May 2016, an interim report by the Auditor General showed that in 2015 nearly 42,000 calls to Childline, Pennsylvania's hotline for reports of child abuse, went unanswered, up from 6,780 in 2014. Furthermore, only 0.005% of calls were overseen by a supervisor. [23] This report prompted changes within the state's Department of Human Services which led to the tracking of all calls to the hotline, a minimum requirement for monitoring calls, and an increase in staffing. [24]

A September 2016 report from the Auditor General's office revealed that over 3,000 rape kits were backlogged by local law enforcement agencies, awaiting testing, with 60% of them waiting untested for over a year. [25] A follow-up in May 2020 announced that the untested backlog had been reduced by 97%, due to increased financial support from the state budget, outside groups and federal programs. [26] [27]

In the wake of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, the Auditor General's office released a report in November 2018 on the subject of gun safety in Pennsylvania and access to guns by those requiring mental health care, calling for greater monitoring by gun sellers of buyers in emotional distress. [28] DePasquale's office likewise audited the Pennsylvania background-check system for possible gaps and errors in its screenings for ineligible purchasers. [29]

Along with Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf, DePasquale co-chaired a School Safety Task Force that gathered feedback about safety concerns, drills and security measures to prevent or mitigate school shootings. [30]

In February 2019, DePasquale announced that officials in 18 Pennsylvania counties had disclosed that they had accepted improper (but not illegal) gifts from voting-machine vendors, and that several additional officials had failed to disclose such gifts. [31] This followed an investigation about the security of voter registration data, prompted by election-security concerns originating in the 2016 election. [32]

2020 congressional campaign

Term-limited from running again as Auditor General, DePasquale announced in June 2019 his candidacy for the United States House of Representatives to represent Pennsylvania's 10th congressional district. [33] He won the Democratic nomination on June 3, 2020. [34] DePasquale was defeated in the general election, with incumbent Scott Perry being declared the victor on November 5. [35] DePasquale subsequently conceded the race. [36]

2024 Attorney General campaign

On June 1, 2023, DePasquale announced his candidacy for Pennsylvania Attorney General in the 2024 election. He cited his tenure as Auditor General as a reason to support him, and pledged to be a "pro-choice attorney general." [6] At the Democratic State Committee meeting in December 2023, DePasquale received 52% of the endorsement vote in a five-candidate field, but failed to meet the two-thirds requirement for an official party endorsement. [37] He won the Democratic primary election with 39% of the vote and faced Republican candidate Dave Sunday in the general election. [38] During the general election debate against Sunday, DePasquale pledged not to enforce a hypothetical abortion ban in Pennsylvania. [39] DePasquale lost to Sunday. [40]

Personal life

DePasquale lives in West Manchester, Pennsylvania. He has two children and is Lutheran. [41]

Electoral history

Eugene DePasquale
Eugene DePasquale.jpg
51st Auditor General of Pennsylvania
In office
January 15, 2013 January 19, 2021
Pennsylvania House of Representatives, District 95, 2006 general election
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Eugene DePasquale 7,561 58.28
Republican Karen Emenheiser5,41241.72
Total votes12,973 100.00
Democratic hold
Pennsylvania House of Representatives, District 95, 2008 general election
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Eugene DePasquale (incumbent) 17,887 75.07
Republican Lon Emenheiser5,94124.93
Total votes23,828 100.00
Democratic hold
Pennsylvania House of Representatives, District 95, 2010 general election
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Eugene DePasquale (incumbent) Unopposed
Total votes9,832 100.00
Democratic hold
Pennsylvania House of Representatives, District 95, 2012 general election
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Eugene DePasquale (incumbent) 16,804 83.04
Independent Dave Moser3,43116.96
Total votes20,235 100.00
Democratic hold
2012 Pennsylvania Auditor General election [42]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Eugene DePasquale 2,729,565 49.73
Republican John Maher 2,548,76746.43
Libertarian Betsy Elizabeth Summers210,8763.84
Total votes5,489,208 100.00
Margin of victory180,7983.30
Democratic hold
2016 Pennsylvania Auditor General election [43]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Democratic Eugene DePasquale (incumbent) 2,958,818 50.01% +0.28%
Republican John Brown2,667,31845.08%−1.35%
Green John Sweeney158,9422.69%N/A
Libertarian Roy Minet131,8532.23%−1.61%
Total votes5,916,931 100.0% N/A
Democratic hold
Pennsylvania's 10th Congressional District Primary Results, 2020 [34]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Eugene DePasquale 29,036 58.6
Democratic Tom Brier20,55241.4
Total votes49,588 100.0
Pennsylvania's 10th Congressional District General Election, 2020 [44]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Republican Scott Perry (incumbent) 208,896 53.3
Democratic Eugene DePasquale182,93846.7
Total votes391,834 100.0
Republican hold

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Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives
for the 95th district

2007–2013
Succeeded by
Party political offices
Preceded by Democratic nominee for Auditor General of Pennsylvania
2012, 2016
Succeeded by
Preceded by Democratic nominee for Attorney General of Pennsylvania
2024
Most recent
Political offices
Preceded by Auditor General of Pennsylvania
2013–2021
Succeeded by