Where Biden's money goes now
Campaign finance experts disagree on the specifics of what the Biden campaign will be able to do with its money.
Charles Spies, a Republican campaign finance law expert, argued in an opinion article in
The Wall Street Journal that Biden would have needed to formally accept the Democratic nomination for president before passing the campaign's existing funds to Vice President Kamala Harris as long as she remained on the ticket. Biden endorsed her shortly after announcing his withdrawal from the race.
But without having accepted the nomination, Spies wrote that Biden becomes beholden to the Federal Election Campaign Act's rules regulating "excess campaign funds" and can no longer donate more than $2,000 to any other candidate, including Harris.
Saurav Ghosh, the director of federal campaign finance reform at the Campaign Legal Center, told
Reuters that, as long as Harris remains in the race, she automatically has access to the campaign's shared funds — regardless of whether the pair had formally accepted the nomination or not, since both names appeared on the same campaign registration documents.
But Spies and Ghosh noted that either way, there are workarounds. The Biden campaign can either refund its donors, Ghosh told Reuters, or, they agreed, the campaign can direct the money to the Democratic National Committee.
President Joe Biden declared he's dropping out of his reelection campaign, prompting questions about what will happen to the millions in his war chest.
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