As Steve noted earlier today, the betting odds on Kamala Harris being the Democrats’ presidential nominee have suddenly shot up, as Joe Biden’s have nosedived. There are probably several reasons for this, but one may be that the Biden/Harris treasure chest can more easily be transferred to Kamala than anyone else.
The New York Post reports. I should add that I know little about campaign finance law, and can’t vouch for anything they say here:
Kamala Harris is poised to take Joe Biden’s place if he drops out of the presidential race — in part because she’s the only person who can take control of the Democrats $240 million war chest, sources told The Post.
Many prominent Democrats are waiting in the wings to take the ailing 81-year-old’s place, but the quarter billion Biden-Harris have raised is non-transferrable, campaign finance sources told The Post.
“Biden has two real choices: Kamala inherits; or they transfer it all to the DNC,” Signum Global partners Rob Casey told The Post. “That money would all be accessed by Kamala… anyone else would be on their own for fundraising.”
OK, but couldn’t the DNC, in turn, spend the money on behalf of another Democratic candidate, like Gavin Newsom?
Again, I am not the campaign finance expert, but financial considerations like these will no doubt weigh heavily as Democrats ponder their best path forward. That said, I come back to the same fundamental point: the Democrats can try to bully Joe and Jill Biden out of the White House, but they don’t have an obvious path to replace Biden unless he agrees to go quietly. And so far, I don’t see any indication that he and Jill are willing to do that.
STEVE adds: Yes, I do actually know something about federal campaign finance law (really my spouse, who was for a time chief of staff for Brad Smith when Brad was chair of the Federal Election Commission), and the Biden-Harris campaign account can be transferred to the DNC, which can likely use it for any purpose (with a couple possible caveats), including supporting a Newsom-Whitmer ticket, but also on House and Senate campaigns, or attack ads on Trump. This really isn’t a serious problem for the Dems. In fact, donors who “maxed-out” to the Biden-Harris committee can max-out again to the Newsom-Whitmer committee.
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