When Joe Biden announced he was quitting the race, he quickly endorsed Kamala Harris via Twitter/X. Vice President Harris has failed to distinguish herself while in office.
Her reputation as an incompetent leader is as bad as Biden’s. But she might be the only viable candidate for Democrats at the moment, given they have less than a month before their convention.
Odds are, there will be plenty of Democrats fighting Harris’ nomination. Reports indicate she is already scrambling to secure as many delegates as possible, democracy be damned.
But if Harris thinks this is as much of a cakewalk as she suggests, she is dreaming. There are many hurdles facing Democrats in the walk of Biden’s departure. They will have a messy, chaotic process ahead of them. And not least of all Harris’ problems is the question of campaign dollars. You might expect Biden can just dump his cash into her lap. But the head of the FED just gave her the bad news.
From Breitbart:
Federal Election Commission (FEC) Chairman Sean Cooksey has announced that all donations made to Joe Biden for the November election “shall be either returned or refunded” or redesignated “as appropriate” following his departure from the presidential race…Since Biden had not yet formally been nominated by the Democratic Party, questions have arisen on if he can legally transfer his chest of $100 million to Vice President Kamala Harris, who he endorsed to take his place after dropping out Sunday.
The FEC’s Bold Stance
Chairman of the FEC Sean Cooksey announced that the donations made to Biden’s campaign have to be “returned or refunded” according to federal law. This means Harris can’t just gobble up the estimated $100 million Biden has sitting in his war chest. The law also allows funds to be “redesignated” or “reattributed” according to law, “as appropriate.”
But it is unclear if Biden’s campaign can wholesale “redesignate” his $100 million to a new campaign with Harris as its candidate. That sounds like a sticky situation, one that can land the Democrats in court. With Biden’s sudden dropout, his campaign will most likely have the unenviable task of returning all those donations to liberal donors. I hope you kept your receipts, folks!
The Unraveling of a Campaign
Already, Harris is hitting barriers. She might have counted on liberals lining up to support her in place of Biden. But it seems not everyone is on board the Harris train.
From The Hill:
Prominent Democratic donor John Morgan said he will not fundraise for Vice President Harris, whom President Biden endorsed for the Democratic nomination after his withdrawal from the race.“You have to be enthusiastic or hoping for a political appointment to be asking friends for money. I am neither. It’s others turn now,” Morgan, an Orlando-based attorney, wrote on the social platform X.
“The donors holding the 90 million can release those funds in the morning. It’s all yours. You can keep my million. And good luck,” he continued.
A major Democrat donor is already refusing to help Harris. John Morgan told reporters he thinks Harris is going to lose to Trump, who is running a juggernaut campaign after the assassination attempt on him. Only a very strong Democrat can rival Trump at this point. And Harris is far from strong. Morgan is probably not the only Democrat donor thinking this.
Money Talks
Even if Harris can take Biden’s campaign cash, will she be able to raise more? It will cost Democrats every last penny they have to prop up Harris, all the way until November. Without a steady flow of millions, she is already DOA.
Key Takeaways:
- The FEC chairman explained that Biden’s campaign cash is not automatically transferred to Harris.
- All of the donations have to be returned to donors, unless they can be “redesignated.”
- A top liberal donor, John Morgan, already said he will not fundraise for Harris since he’s convinced she will lose.
