AP Photo/Evan Vucci
As questions about whether or not President Joe Biden will remain the Democratic presidential nominee go unanswered, one fact may explain why he has been steadfast in his insistence that he isn’t going anywhere: because his $100 million campaign war chest can’t go directly to another candidate he’s formally nominated.
The Wall Street Journal‘s Charlie Spies outlined on Monday a few campaign finance rules that state until Biden is chosen as the official nominee at the Democratic National Convention in August, his campaign can only give $2,000 to another candidate’s campaign:
If Mr. Biden drops out before the Democratic Party formally makes him its nominee, then Federal Election Commission rules dictate that no more than $2,000 of any campaign funds that he raised may be transferred to any other candidate, including [Vice President Kamala Harris].The Federal Election Campaign Act governs what a presidential campaign may do with “excess campaign funds,” which is what the money left in the Biden for President campaign will legally be considered
if he is no longer a candidate. Those excess funds may be contributed in an unlimited amount to the Democratic National Committee or an independent expenditure committee. Presidential campaigns may also contribute such funds to other federal campaigns, subject to contribution limits, which are $2,000 per election.
Spies added: “Some Democratic election lawyers have asserted that if Mr. Biden drops out now, all his funds could go to a new Harris campaign. That’s incorrect.”
As of this writing, Biden and Harris can be considered their party’s presumptive nominees, but that holds no legal clout for the Federal Election Commission.
Spies, a former counsel for the Republican National Committee as well as counsel for the chairman of the FEC, wrote:
If President Biden is committed to passing the torch to his vice president, and wants to be able to seed her campaign with the current Biden for President campaign war chest, he’ll first have to become his party’s legal nominee. After shuffling through the Democratic National Committee’s planned roll call vote he’d be free to drop out. Ms. Harris could seamlessly slip into the driver’s seat. That’s a risky strategy, as it requires maintaining an obvious fiction under intense public scrutiny for another six weeks.Mr. Biden insists he will stay in the race. Does he really mean it? Even if he doesn’t, the Democratic Party has a strong financial
incentive to play along.
Biden continued this week to push back against those calling for him to step away from his reelection campaign and stated that he is remaining in the race.