If President Joe Biden decides to drop out of the 2024 presidential race, Vice President Kamala Harris would be first in line to get tens of millions of dollars from his campaign treasury.
Biden has given no indication that he plans to end his reelection campaign after a faltering performance in last week’s debate. But it was a scenario that was discussed during a tense call between campaign advisers and donors on Sunday.
Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said on the call that if the president drops out — which she stressed he has no intention of doing — Harris would then control most of the money in their campaign account, which stood at $91.2 million as of May 31.
That appears to be correct, according to some campaign finance experts — but probably only if she subsequently becomes the Democratic presidential nominee.
“It has this unique feature that Harris is still part of the campaign and is considered part of the campaign from the start,” said Kenneth Gross, senior political counsel at Akin Gump and a former associate general counsel of the Federal Election Commission.
Harris’ name is on the FEC filings for Biden’s declaration of candidacy and on his campaign account’s organizational statement, meaning she could likely use the funds if she continues the campaign. Campaign finance law also says a campaign committee appointed by a presidential candidate can be used by the party’s vice presidential nominee.
“Both candidates have accounts,” Gross said. “And I think she could use that money if she ran for president. She would be the only one who could do it.”
The Campaign Legal Center’s campaign finance team also determined that Harris could access money from the account if she succeeds Biden as the party’s presidential nominee.
But they noted in an email that Harris would only be able to access the funds if she were the front-runner. In other words, if she remained the vice presidential candidate and the party chose someone else for president, the campaign would be different.
Gross said he was unsure whether Harris would be unable to access the funds if she remained the party’s vice presidential nominee without Biden.
“It’s such a unique scenario that I think the campaign would want to seek the FEC’s advice on this issue,” he said.
Claire Rajan, a former FEC litigation attorney who heads Allen & Overy’s political law group, also agreed that Harris could likely access the funds as the party’s presidential candidate, but doubted she could do so as the running mate of another standard-bearer.
If Harris were not nominated in this scenario, the Campaign Legal Center’s campaign finance team noted that Biden’s campaign money could be converted into a political action committee. But a PAC can only make a small donation of up to $3,300 per election to another candidate. The Biden campaign could also refund contributions from donors, who could in turn donate to a new candidate.
Rajan and Gross also noted that if Biden were to step down, the funds could be transferred to a charity or super PAC, which would not be able to coordinate with the campaign. The funds could also be transferred to the national party.
News Source : www.nbcnews.com
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