[6][7] After graduating from John W. Ligon High School in 1964,[1] he attended St. Augustine's College, receiving a degree in business administration in 1968.
[13] Facing two other candidates in the Democratic Party's primary election, he took a leave of absence from his job in the Department of Insurance and travelled across the state to hold meetings and rallies.
[8] He won the May 5 primary, securing the Democratic nomination with 48 percent of the vote,[14][15] and faced Republican Vernon Abernethy in the general election.
Campbell pledged that if he was elected he would create an advisory council for the office and establish a technical assistance program to educate officials in other state agencies on cost-controlling methods.
[17] Campbell won the general election on November 3, saying, "How sweet it is to be standing with my fellow North Carolinians on the edge of tomorrow [...] We have chosen hope over fear.
He served as head of the state's Information Resource Management Commission and helped determine its policy towards the internet[22] and later reviewed the government's response to the Year 2000 problem.
[25] Daly and his campaign official, Nate Pendley, accused Campbell of misusing his state vehicle and criticized him for the 1995 collision, saying he should resign from office.
[29] He released a critical audit of North Carolina's mental health services in early 2000, for which he received broad praise, and the report led to the creation of a legislative panel to study the matter.
In June he audited the expenses of State Attorney General Mike Easley, who used official funds to pay for public service announcements.
[33] Ralph Campbell stated that Kenneth had been deceived, and the latter's candidacy was invalidated by election officials after one asserted that the move was done to confuse voters in the primary.
[39] The following year his office reported on the John A. Hyman Foundation, a nonprofit founded by Congressman Frank Ballance, accusing it of financial improprieties.
[41] In March 2004 Campbell released an audit of the North Carolina State Ports Authority which led its chief executive officer to resign and the board of directors to revise its rules regarding credit cards and travel expenses.
[42][43] The following month the auditor's office released a report which accused the North Carolina Medicaid program of misallocating $414 million in federal funding.
"[45] The audit led to a public dispute between Campbell and Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Carmen Hooker Odom.
"[46] His comment elicited gasps from the audience, and after he summarized the report, the legislators intensively questioned Odom on the spending of the Medicaid funds.
[45] The North Carolina Republican Party attacked Campbell's connections to his brother Bill, who had been indicted in the course of the federal investigation on corruption charges.
[52] He endorsed Beth Wood, a former employee in the state auditor's office, as the Democratic candidate to challenge Merritt in the 2008 election.
Governor Beverly Perdue also ordered that all North Carolina flags at state facilities were to be flown at half-staff in his honor.