By Jason Lange and Stephanie Kelly
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign has a massive bank account that could benefit an alternative candidate if he dropped his White House bid, but campaign finance rules limit how that cash could be spent.
The 81-year-old Democrat is facing pressure to fold his campaign after a disastrous debate against Republican challenger Donald Trump raised questions about his acuity and ability to serve another four-year term if re-elected.
HOW MUCH MONEY DOES BIDEN HAVE?
Biden’s campaign reported to the Federal Election Commission last month that it had $91 million in the bank at the end of May, a significant sum though less than the $116 million the Trump campaign told the FEC it had in the bank. Both campaigns are due on Saturday to disclose updated financial figures through June.
COULD A DIFFERENT DEMOCRAT TAKE CONTROL OF THAT MONEY?
Experts on campaign finance law disagree on how readily the money could change hands. Saurav Ghosh, a lawyer at the Campaign Legal Center, a non-partisan watchdog group, said there are two scenarios in which control of Biden’s money could be seamlessly transferred to a new candidate: If that candidate were Vice President Kamala Harris, or if Harris became the running mate of a new candidate. As Biden’s current running mate, Harris’ name appears alongside Biden’s on the campaign’s registration documents.
“If Harris remains on the ticket, as either the presidential or vice presidential candidate, the new ticket would maintain access to all the funds,” Ghosh said.
WHAT MIGHT GET IN THE WAY OF A SEAMLESS TRANSFER?
Brad Smith, a law professor at Capital University and a Republican former FEC commissioner, said some legal interpretations might not sanction a Harris ticket taking control of the money if Biden were to drop out of the race before he is formally nominated by his party to appear on the ballot, a procedure expected in the coming weeks.
Under that argument, “she’s not officially the nominee, right? So it’s not partly her money,” Smith said. He said federal regulators in the past have made legal arguments suggesting such a transfer would be permitted, but that Republican lawyers might file a legal complaint anyway. If Biden dropped out after he and Harris were the official nominees, Harris’ legal claim on the money would be clearer, Smith said.
WHAT HAPPENS IF HARRIS ISN’T ON THE TICKET?
Because of rules limiting the size of campaign contributions, a Democratic ticket with two new candidates could accept a few thousand dollars directly from Biden’s campaign account. Biden would have the option of refunding contributions to donors who could then donate the money to the new campaign. But under a more likely scenario, Biden would take advantage of rules that allow unlimited transfers to the candidate’s political party. In that case, Biden’s Democratic Party could spend the money supporting the party’s new candidate.
ISN’T THAT THE SAME AS TRANSFERRING THE MONEY TO A PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN?
No. While the party can spend unlimited sums on TV ads and other means to support its candidate, the party can only coordinate $32 million of that spending with the campaign, according to FEC rules. The other disadvantage of a large transfer is that campaigns are legally entitled to heavily-discounted television advertising rates in the last 60 days before an election. Party committees, as well as super PACs and other big-money groups, do not get those discounts and can pay significantly more for each ad.
(Reporting by Jason Lange in Washington and Stephanie Kelly in New York; Editing by Scott Malone and Rod Nickel)
