GOP Readies Lawsuit To Stop Harris Taking Biden-Harris $98M Campaign Fund, Force Her to Start at $0

Democratic Party legal filings designate Kamala Harris Presidential candidate, giving her Control of all campaign resources

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The Biden-Harris campaign has officially updated its filings with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to rename its principal committee and designate Vice President Kamala Harris as a candidate for president. This move ensures that Harris can access and control the nearly $96 million in campaign funds, accumulated through a joint effort with President Joe Biden over the past two years.

The reconfiguration of the campaign committee comes on the heels of President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race. Just hours after Biden’s announcement, the campaign filed paperwork with the FEC, changing the committee's name to “Harris for President.” A letter accompanied the filing, stating that Vice President Harris is now a candidate for the 2024 presidential election and will focus solely on campaign activities related to that office.

Trevor Potter, founder and president of the Campaign Legal Center, explained the implications of this transition. "Because Biden and Harris share a campaign committee, the Vice President and her running mate can continue using the campaign’s existing funds for the general election if she is on the Democratic ticket as either the presidential or vice-presidential nominee," he stated. This strategic maneuver allows Harris to leverage the financial resources amassed by the Biden-Harris campaign, including contributions distributed across the Biden campaign, the Democratic National Committee, and various state Democratic parties.

The ability to amend the FEC filing and maintain control of the campaign funds was seen as a significant advantage for Harris. Political analysts had anticipated this move, given her established presence on the campaign account. Both Hans von Spakovsky, a conservative election law expert at the Heritage Foundation, and Federal Election Commissioner Dara Lindenbaum have publicly noted that Harris’s name on the campaign account permits her to access the funds. Lindenbaum, a key vote on the often-divided commission, commented on social media, “If Kamala Harris becomes the Democratic Party nominee, she gets access to the Joe Biden campaign funds.”

However, this transition has not been without controversy. Some Republicans have indicated plans to challenge Harris’s control of the campaign’s war chest. Sean Cooksey, the Republican-appointed chair of the Federal Election Commission, suggested on social media that there could be GOP pushback against Harris’s potential inheritance of the campaign funds. Cooksey pointed to campaign finance regulations that may require donations to be refunded to donors, although he did not specifically address Harris’s existing role on the campaign account.

Craig Engle, a former lawyer for an FEC commissioner, highlighted the complexity of the situation. "A campaign cannot keep money for an election the candidate isn’t running in," Engle remarked, noting the "gray area" regarding whether Biden could return money to his general election donors and then encourage them to re-donate to Harris. Engle suggested that the Biden campaign might seek an advisory opinion from the FEC for guidance in the coming weeks.

Another potential solution discussed is transferring the campaign account’s balance to the Democratic National Committee or a super PAC. This would allow Harris to start a new campaign account and solicit donations from contributors who had already maxed out their contributions to the Biden-Harris campaign. Election law experts, such as Derek Muller, a professor at the University of Notre Dame, noted that campaigns often spend money ahead of FEC or court decisions, leaving final resolutions until after Election Day.

"I think there’s going to be litigation about it," Muller told CNN. "The general consensus is that because Harris’s name is already on the paperwork, she can accept it for the general election. But it’s not the universal view."