What happens to Biden’s campaign money if he steps down?

Al Ritter

I thought this was a particularly interesting question as his war chest is pretty substantial. Fortunately there are answers to be had.

There are campaign finance rules that govern over such a question, and the answer doesn’t really seem to help anyone except one person.

That recipient is the Vice President Kamala Harris. Yes the person who is seen as more unfavorably than Joe Biden gets the keys to the war chest.

Now other avenues are possible but only in varying degrees of expenditure ranging from the $2000 to $3000 per donation per entity.

So IF Joe steps down she can use that to fund her run for the Whitehouse in November. Of course if Biden steps down she will be the new President for 3 months and then if the DNC so choses she will become the presumptive nominee.

But IF the DNC picks a new candidate, they can’t use Joe’s campaign funds. To be honest that would be disastrous for a newcomer to raise the funds necessary in 3 months for a Presidential run.

There is no good avenue for the Democrats at this point except to try to jail Trump before January.

Update: If Harris isn't the nominee the war chest reverts back to the DNC, but here's the catch, they can only use $5000 per candidate in this cycle. This would must certainly hogtie them for November!

Read more on the campaign finance regulations here:

https://prospect.org/power/2024-07-02-campaign-finance-laws-harris-big-boost-biden-dropout-scenario/