Kamala Harris Takes Control Of Biden-Harris Campaign Account - Here's Why She's The Sole Successor

Filings with the Federal Election Commission were formally amended by the Biden-Harris campaign to rename its principal committee and declare Kamala Harris a candidate for president, on Sunday.

According to the Campaign Legal Center, this move means that the Biden-Harris campaign account, which had nearly $96 million cash in hand at the end of June, could be assumed by Harris should she remain on the ticket for the general election.

Here's Why Kamala Harris Is The Sole Successor:

• US President Joe Biden and US Vice President Kamala Harris were seen arriving at a National Small Business Week event in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Monday, May 1, 2023. The White House mentioned that Biden administration investments in America led to 10.5 million applications to start small businesses in 2021 and 2022.
• Trevor Potter, founder and president of Campaign Legal Center, stated, "Specifically because Biden and Harris share a campaign committee, the Vice President and her running mate can continue using the campaign's existing funds for the general election if she is on the Democratic ticket as either the presidential or vice-presidential nominee," as reported by CNN.
• Just hours after President Joe Biden withdrew from the race, paperwork was filed by the campaign committee with the Federal Election Commission, which noted that the "committee name is different than previously reported," re-designating the committee as "Harris for President."
• A letter was also filed by the committee with the commission stating that "Vice President Harris is now a candidate for United States President in the 2024 election and will henceforth be conducting campaign activities only in pursuit of that office."
• The ability to change the FEC filing was seen by many political observers as a practical reason for Harris to replace Biden since her name was already on the campaign account.
• Hans von Spakovsky, a longtime conservative election law expert at the Heritage Foundation, and Federal Election Commissioner Dara Lindenbaum publicly mentioned that Harris could access what Biden raised through his principal campaign committee because it is registered for both the president and vice president, as reported by CNN.
• Lindenbaum, a Democrat seen as a swing vote on the often-deadlocked commission, wrote on X, "If Kamala Harris becomes the Democratic Party nominee, she gets access to the Joe Biden campaign funds."
• A different general election Democratic presidential nominee than Harris wouldn't be able to access that cash as easily, von Spakovsky wrote on Fox News. He added that there's no requirement for any donations to be returned, although the campaign could always choose to do so.
• Sean Cooksey, the current FEC chairman and a Republican appointee, mentioned in an X post that a campaign finance regulation says that donations may need to be returned or refunded to donors, but he did not elaborate or address the issue of Harris already being on the campaign account.
• Craig Engle, a former lawyer for an FEC commissioner who represents Republican candidates and Democratic groups in the 2024 election cycle, mentioned on Sunday, "A campaign cannot keep the money for an election the candidate isn't running in." Engle noted there's a "grey area" on whether Biden could send money back to his general election donors and encourage them to give it immediately back to Harris.
• It was suggested by Engle that the Biden campaign might need to ask the Federal Election Commission for guidance, in the form of an advisory opinion, in the coming weeks.
• Another option mentioned was for Biden to transfer the campaign account's balance to the Democratic National Committee or to a super PAC. This could allow Harris to start a new campaign account, revisit donors who had already maxed out contributions to the Biden-Harris campaign, and hit them up again, according to one election attorney.
• Derek Muller, an election law professor at the University of Notre Dame, commented that campaigns are often well ahead in spending money before the FEC or courts decide what's allowed, pushing the final answers until after Election Day.
• Muller told CNN, "I think there's going to be litigation about it. I think the consensus view is, that because Harris's name is already on the paperwork, she can accept it for the general election. [But] it's not the universal view."