According to the latest Federal Election Commission filings, Biden’s campaign entered July with $96 million, after spending $243 million through the end of June. That doesn’t include money the that the national Democratic Party apparatus and allied political action committees have.
But July’s fundraising likely started off slow as top donors worried about Biden’s election prospects after his disastrous debate performance in late June, with many reportedly refusing to contribute unless he dropped out.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump has been quickly closing the money gap he had earlier this year with Biden and likely saw a surge after last week’s assassination attempt. According to the FEC, Trump’s campaign had $128 million in the bank at the end of last month.
Vice President Kamala Harris, whom Biden endorsed to take his place on the ticket, can access the campaign money most easily. The nominee won’t be official until the DNC, and Harris said Sunday she intends “to earn and win this nomination.”
Because Biden and Harris share a campaign committee, she can continue using the existing funds for the general election if she is on the Democratic ticket as either the presidential or vice-presidential nominee, according to a note from Trevor Potter, who is a former FEC chairman and currently the president of the Campaign Legal Center.
“A major party’s presumptive nominee stepping down months before Election Day is not an ordinary event, but it is also not a crisis,” he wrote, adding that there are Democratic Party rules and FEC rules that govern where the money can go.
If Harris isn’t on the ticket, campaign committees are subject to federal rules, which limit candidate-to-candidate contributions to $2,000 per election, Potter explained.
The Biden campaign can also refund its donors or transfer its funds to the national Democratic Party or state parties, he said. The committees can then spend some funds in coordination with the eventual 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,” Potter said. “I urge all parties to follow the law and respect the outcome of the election in November.”
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