When the votes in the 2019 elections for statewide constitutional offices in Kentucky were tallied, Allison Ball bested every other candidate. The Republican incumbent for state treasurer garnered 856,000 votes, which exceeded the totals of her fellow Republicans for attorney general, auditor, and secretary of state. Her tally also blew past both candidates for governor by more than 146,000 votes.
As the term-limited Ball considered her next political move, some wondered if the 41-year-old might seek the state’s highest office, given her apparent popularity among Kentucky voters.
“It’s something I really did consider and maybe at some point I will go for a governor’s run,” says Ball.
But after praying about it and considering the needs of her two young children, Ball announced in July that she will seek the office of auditor in the 2023 elections.
“I want to keep serving Kentucky and the auditor is a natural next step,” she says. “I was bankruptcy attorney before I was treasurer, so I love fixing financial problems. I love being a good steward of money.”
Looking Ahead to the 2023 Races
So far, no other candidates have announced for auditor. With the likely interest of so many Republican contenders for statewide offices next year, Ball says it’s important to get her name out early and to start work on fundraising.
She says she’s also sought advice from former state auditors of both parties as well as the current officeholder, Mike Harmon.
“Everyone has told me that this is a good-government role,” she says. “It is about efficiency, it’s about accountability, and who wouldn’t love that, if you love public service.”
Like Ball, Harmon is also term-limited. The Danville Republican announced his candidacy for governor last year, and is now one of five GOP contenders already in the race. Ball says it’s a talented field and notes she is friends with each of the candidates.
“It puts you in a difficult position because I care about all of them and I’m proud of the work that they have done,” she says. “If any one of these people were to get elected, I have great confidence they can do the job.”
The specter of Donald Trump may hang over many of next year’s races. Ball says she is aligned with the former president’s fiscal conservatism and would welcome his support of her campaign.
“I will take an endorsement from anybody, and a guy like that who has been so popular in Kentucky and his polices have done so well, there’s a lot of good that can come from those kinds of things,” she says.
Ball is reluctant to judge the former president’s actions involving classified government documents recovered from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. She contends the U.S. Department of Justice investigation is political, especially since she says former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton faced no repercussions for using a private email server for her government-related communications.
“This whole thing concerns me deeply, and it looks like someone in power trying to use that power in an unfair, imbalanced way,” says Ball. “If there was something truly nefarious, then I believe in the law and the law should be upheld, absolutely, but I question quite a bit if there’s something nefarious and it feels very political to me.”
Regardless of the outcome of that or other investigations into the former president, Ball says she would support Trump if he is the Republican nominee for president in 2024.
A Champion for Financial Literacy
As she gears up her 2023 campaign, Ball will continue her regular duties as treasurer, which she describes as being a watchdog over the state’s money, making sure payments comply with the law, preventing fraud and embezzlement, and protecting cybersecurity. She also touts her office’s work to return $142 million in unclaimed property to its rightful owners. That is a record amount for a single term of a state treasurer. Unclaimed items can range from utility overpayments, to estate proceeds, to items left behind in safe deposit boxes.
“I describe it as the statewide lost and found,” says Ball. “It’s my job to get it all back to people, so it is a fun part of the job, and I think it’s a valuable part of the job because sometimes you’re returning money that someone actually needs at that point in their life.”
As treasurer, Ball has also championed financial literacy, especially for women and youth. Her office hosted a virtual, one-day seminar last year for more than 600 women to learn about personal finances and budgeting, home ownership, investing, and entrepreneurship. She also promoted legislation to make completing a financial literacy course a requirement for high school graduation.
“I really believe it’s going to have a generational impact,” says Ball of House Bill 132 from the 2018 General Assembly session. “If you can learn these things early, you’re going to prevent all kinds of problems.”
The Kentucky Financial Empowerment Commission provides free resources to schools and educators to help teach students about personal finances. Ball says the required financial literacy training can occur either as a stand-alone class or incorporated into an existing class. The new requirement will take effect for seniors in the 2023-2024 graduating class.
