CLC’s Trevor Potter on the FEC Rules Guiding Campaign Funds When a Nominee Withdraws

Date
Issues
Voting and Elections
Campaign Finance

Washington, D.C. — Today, President Joe Biden made the announcement that he is withdrawing his bid for reelection. Trevor Potter, founder and president of Campaign Legal Center, issued the following statement regarding the campaign funds currently held by the Biden-Harris campaign:

A major party’s presumptive nominee stepping down months before Election Day is not an ordinary event, but it is also not a crisis.

There are Democratic Party rules in place to govern the process of selecting a new nominee. There are also rules established by the Federal Election Commission that apply to the funds currently held by the Biden-Harris campaign.

The application of those FEC rules depends in part on who becomes the Democratic nominee for president. 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.

If the new ticket does not include Vice President Harris, the rules are different.  Campaign committees are subject to federal contribution limits, which limit candidate-to-candidate contributions to $2,000 per election.

Alternatively, the Biden campaign can offer to refund its donors, or the campaign can transfer its funds to the national Democratic party or state parties. The party committees are permitted by FEC rules to spend some funds in coordination with the eventual presidential nominee.  

Regardless of whom the Democratic Party ultimately chooses as its candidate, what matters most is voters having the final say on who becomes the next President of the United States. I urge all parties to follow the law and respect the outcome of the election in November.

CLC’s election lawyers - including President Trevor Potter, Executive Director Adav Noti, Senior Director for Campaign Finance Erin Chlopak and Director for Federal Campaign Finance Reform Saurav Ghosh - are available to further discuss these FEC rules with the press.