Can Kamala Harris Legally Use Biden’s Campaign Cash?

A look into where your donation goes when a campaign ends.

In 2008, Hillary Clinton had dug herself into a hole. 

Not only was she losing the Democratic primaries to then-Senator Barack Obama, but she was spending way more cash than she was taking in. She owed money to printing companies, air charters, phone companies, and political consultants. 

Clinton was in such a bind that she used her own money, over $13 million, to try and get her campaign out of debt. (Candidates can loan an unlimited amount of their personal funds to their campaign.)

In June 7, 2008, Clinton suspended her campaign, but she was still nearly $25 million in debt, with $12 million owed to vendors, including money for employee health insurance, colleges and universities where the campaign had rented space, food service vendors, and political firms. And she still owed herself $13.2 million.

Obama went on to win the general election. As president, Obama appointed Clinton to be his Secretary of State. Government officials cannot engage in political campaigning in the course of their official work due to the Hatch Act, meaning once she was in office, Clinton could not fundraise for her own campaign. 

By inauguration, Clinton had forfeited her personal loan (this means she did not pay herself back the $13.2 million), and the job of fundraising was left up to her husband, former President Bill Clinton, who sent out letters on her behalf, held dinners, raffled off trips, and signed memorabilia in exchange for donations. 

Finally, in January 2013, Clinton paid off the last of her campaign debts. 

Campaign finance laws are not simple or straightforward in the United States. And sometimes, they are maddening. 

But what happens if the opposite is true, if a campaign ends with extra cash on hand?

Candidates who end their campaign with extra money have options. Nikki Haley, for example. She ended her campaign in February with $11.5 million in the bank. She can hold on to this money for a future campaign (Haley is young and could run for president again), or she could refund donors. She could donate it to a charity, or give money to other federal candidates (there is a limit of only $2,000 per election for transfers from one candidate to another.)  She could transfer unlimited funds to a local, state, or national political party committee, like the Republican National Convention, or it could be converted into a super PAC, who can spend money supporting a candidate with things like ads. She cannot use it for personal use. 

Biden ended his campaign with about $96 million left in his war chest.

But Biden only saw one option to pursue — he wanted to immediately transfer the money to Kamala Harris. During presidential elections, the presidential and vice presidential candidates can create a joint campaign committee, which allows them to share funds. Biden and Harris had already registered together under the campaign committee “Biden for President.” 

Hours after Biden’s announcement, the campaign committee submitted a new filing with the FEC, changing the committee’s name to “Harris for President” (which is meant to transfer not only the money, but also nearly 1,000 staffers over to Harris). They created fundraising committees for her, named the Harris Victory Fund and the Harris Action Fund.

In the past week, Kamala Harris has raised $200 million for her presidential campaign, including donations to the Democratic National Committee and her joint fundraising committees. This is on top of the $150 million the Future Forward PAC said it had raised for Harris in the 24 hours after Biden dropped out. 

Trump’s campaign, his fundraising affiliates, and the RNC had $281 million available at the end of June. His single biggest fundraising day was after he was convicted in his criminal hush money trial. He raised $53 million. 

Last week, Donald Trump’s campaign and the conservative group Citizens United filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission, trying to block Harris from gaining access to the Biden/Harris money raised before Biden dropped out, saying that Harris is violating campaign finance laws and that the name change constituted fraud. 

Trump’s lawyer writes, “Ms. Harris has no more right to the funds raised by Mr. Biden than any other potential candidate who may challenge her for the nomination.” 

Harris’s team responded, saying Trump’s campaign is jealous of the Democrats’ energy and are spouting “baseless legal claims.”

Most experts agree that Harris has access to the money because her name was already part of the campaign committee. It’s also unlikely that this complaint will be heard before the general election, because the FEC notoriously moves quite slowly.

According to Nicholas Stephanopoulos, a Harvard law professor and an expert in election law, Harris “has the keys to the account right now and “there’s virtually no chance that the FEC is going to decide anything on this question before the election.” Stephanopoulos said the commission is likely “years and years away from deciding” this issue. The FEC is still deciding issues from the 2016 election. So Harris has the access and ability to use the campaign funds right now. 

Listen, you know where I stand on this: who wins the presidency should not be contingent on who has the most money, but that is the current reality in the US.

Someday, we will enact meaningful campaign finance reform and put the legal wrangling behind us. But until then, yes, Kamala can use the campaign funds, and it will be many years before the FEC makes any kind of determination on the complaint. The election will be long over by then.

I’d love to hear from you: what electoral reform do you think is most sorely needed? Tell me in the comments.