JEFFERSON CITY 鈥 Missouri鈥檚 lone Democratic statewide officeholder said Friday she won鈥檛 run for any office in 2022, opening the door for Republicans to sweep the state.
Auditor Nicole Galloway, 38, who was appointed to the post in 2015 and won a full, four-year term in 2018, announced in a statement on Twitter she will not seek another term as auditor or any other office in order to spend more time with her family.
鈥淪erving as Missouri鈥檚 Auditor has been the honor of my life,鈥 Galloway said. 鈥淚 am ready for the next chapter of service and life with my family.鈥
She and her husband, Jon, have three boys, the youngest of whom was born in 2017.
Galloway made an unsuccessful bid for governor in 2020, losing to Gov. Mike Parson by nearly 17 percentage points in a state that has grown increasingly tough for Democrats.
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The GOP currently controls both chambers of the Legislature with supermajorities, the state鈥檚 two U.S. Senate seats, the governor鈥檚 office and all other statewide offices, except for auditor.
As auditor, Galloway manages about 115 employees, who are charged with conducting audits of government entities. In announcing her decision, Galloway called herself a 鈥渨atchdog鈥 for Missouri taxpayers.
While many of the auditor鈥檚 duties are perfunctory checks of government spending, her reports have generated political controversy.
In 2020, an audit of U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley鈥檚 short tenure as Missouri鈥檚 attorney general found paperwork and management problems that may have cost taxpayers unnecessary amounts of money.
{div class=鈥漧ee-article-text鈥潁Hawley, a Republican who served as attorney general from January 2017 to January 2019, dismissed the report, saying despite some higher costs, overall spending in the office went down.
A 2019 audit also dinged Parson for questionable spending during his time as lieutenant governor. The governor, for example, was reimbursed with taxpayer dollars to use his personal vehicle to attend entertainment events that did not appear necessary to office operations or a reasonable use of state funds.
On Friday, Galloway said, 鈥淚 will always be a relentless advocate for Missouri and the working men and women who move it forward.鈥
The decision came despite Galloway continuing to raise campaign money. Her latest report with the Missouri Ethics Commission shows she has $135,873 in her account as of April.
Among her donors were the same labor unions that helped bankroll her unsuccessful bid for governor. Also contributing was former Gov. Jay Nixon, who appointed Galloway to the job after the death of former Auditor Tom Schweich.
Among her expenses was an $11,000 payment on March 8 to a Washington, D.C., pollster for 鈥渞esearch.鈥
A political action committee that raised nearly $10 million for her gubernatorial run was dismantled after the election.
Among those potentially considering running for the position next year is Republican Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick, who was appointed to the post in 2018 and elected to a full term last year.
Fitzpatrick is the former chairman of the powerful House Budget Committee.
Rep. David Gregory, R-Sunset Hills, also is exploring a run for auditor and is amassing a war chest.
In January, a political action committee supporting Gregory landed a $200,000 contribution from the Alliance for Economic Progress, a secretive nonprofit. Gregg Keller, a Missouri Republican operative, is listed as the president of the Alliance for Economic Progress in documents filed with the Missouri secretary of state鈥檚 office.
Keller also has been a spokesman for a politically connected company that has placed thousands of unregulated slot machines in gas stations, truck stops and liquor stores across the state in recent years.