What will happen to the millions of dollars raised by Joe Biden’s presidential campaign?
The transition of campaign funds from Biden to Harris is expected to be relatively seamless, despite the tens of millions of dollars involved.
Before the abandonment of his reelection plan, President Joe Biden’s campaign had raised substantial funds, totaling over $389 million, with approximately $95 million remaining in its coffers at the end of June.
With Biden’s withdrawal, the campaign has quickly transitioned to support Harris, who is expected to be the Democratic nominee. According to campaign finance law, because both Biden and Harris were listed on the campaign’s registration documents, the funds can be seamlessly used in Harris’s campaign, without any transfer.
If Harris is chosen as the presidential candidate at August’s Democratic convention, then “the new ticket would maintain access to all the funds in the campaign committee,” said Saurav Ghosh, the director of federal campaign finance reform at the Campaign Legal Center.
This is “[b]ecause Biden and Vice President Harris share a campaign committee,” Ghosh continued.
Indeed, the campaign filed forms with the Federal Election Commission to change the name of the campaign account to “Harris for President” from “Biden for President.”
WHat if Kamala Harris is not the chosen candidate?
In such a case, Biden could refund contributions to donors, allowing them to support a new candidate. However, this would limit the amount that could be directly transferred to a new campaign due to contribution limits set by federal law.
Instead, Biden’s campaign could opt to transfer funds to the Democratic National Committee, which could then support the new candidate, albeit with some restrictions on spending coordination.