Rewind: Kamala Harris’ 2020 presidential campaign was a financial disaster

WASHINGTON — Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris has raised historically massive sums of money since President Joe Biden announced on Sunday he’d not stand for reelection.

But political money hasn’t always been easy for Harris.

Federal records indicate that Harris’ 2020 presidential campaign, which she abandoned in late 2019 before a Democratic primary or caucus vote had been cast, experienced a most messy financial ending — one that didn’t officially arrive until less than a year ago.

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Harris’ 2020 presidential campaign money situation offers a small, but relevant window into her campaign resource management style during a month when Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump had financially overtaken the Biden — now Harris — campaign immediately prior to Biden’s exit.

Here’s what happened with Harris’ 2020 campaign, according to Federal Election Commission records analyzed by Raw Story:

When Harris dropped out of the 2020 race on Dec. 3, 2019, she cited campaign money as an overriding reason. “My campaign for president simply doesn’t have the financial resources we need to continue,” Harris said at the time.

She wasn’t lying. As of Dec. 31, 2019, Harris’ presidential campaign committee had less than $1.13 million left in its account — and $1.07 million in debt, according to federal records.

But that was only the beginning of Harris’ debt problems.

By March 31, 2020, her campaign committee’s cash reserves had dwindled to about $220,000 while debt grew to nearly $1.1 million as lingering bills hit the campaign’s ledger.

The creditor list for Kamala Harris for the People — the official name of Harris’ 2020 presidential campaign committee — included 16 different campaign vendors.

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Harris’ campaign owed Perkins Coie LLP, the law firm whose political law group was then led by Democratic superlawyer Marc Elias, the most — more than $430,000. TorchStone Global LLC (security and travel), NGP VAN Inc. (software) and Political Data Inc. (voter data) and SCRB Strategies (political consulting) were likewise owed large sums.

By the end of June 2020, Harris’ all-but-defunct presidential campaign was effectively broke: It reported just $994.96 in its account versus more than $1.04 million in debt.

It looked as if Harris was destined to join the likes of Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, Mike Pence and Al Sharpton as former presidential candidates who to this day rank among the nation’s most notable presidential campaign deadbeats, unable or unwilling to settle up on years-old bills.

But the trajectory of Harris’ financial fortunes would soon change.

On Aug. 11, 2020, Biden — then the Democrats’ presumptive presidential nominee — selected Harris as his running mate.

ActBlue, the Democratic donation platform, allowed supporters of the new Biden-Harris ticket to make contributions to Harris’ old 2020 presidential campaign committee for the purpose of paying down its debts.

It helped. A lot. By Sept. 30, 2020, Harris’ 2020 presidential committee reported nearly $100,000 cash on hand and less than $846,000 in debt.

But it wasn’t a panacea. So Harris’ old campaign dug into federal regulations and pulled out a unanimous and decidedly relevant 2010 advisory opinion from the Federal Election Committee that stated: “The principal campaign committee for a presidential ticket may transfer general election funds to retire debts from the vice presidential nominee’s presidential primary campaign.”

Somewhat ironically, it was Biden’s 2008 presidential campaign, which flamed out in similar fashion to Harris’ 2020 presidential campaign, that prompted the Federal Election Commission’s ruling.

That’s because when Biden became Barack Obama’s running mate in mid-2008, the old Biden presidential committee, in conjunction with the Obama for America committee, petitioned the Federal Election Committee to allow the Obama committee to either transfer $138,000 to Biden’s old committee or simply pay off the Biden committee’s debts.

Among the Federal Election Commissioners voting in favor of this arrangement that would benefit Harris years later? Future Donald Trump White House counsel Don McGahn and failed Trump federal court nominee Matthew Petersen, of all people.

Flash forward 10 years.

In Oct. 16, 2020, the Biden for President campaign transferred nearly $437,000 to the Kamala Harris for the People committee. On Nov. 16, 2020 — shortly after Biden won the presidency — it transferred another $441,635.

Kamala Harris for the People’s campaign debt was zeroed out by December 2020.

This story of Harris’ unpaid bills doesn’t quite end here, however.

Kamala Harris for the People incurred some new bills in 2021, including delayed tax bills from governmental entities and tens of thousands of dollars in new legal bills from the Kaufman Legal Group in California. Some Harris donors had money refunded to them, slicing into the committee’s cash balance.

In early 2022, Kamala Harris for the People sunk back into debt, with nearly $439,000 in outstanding bills — including $319,957 in unpaid payroll taxes due to the Comptroller of Maryland.

But the Biden campaign again came to the rescue, injecting another $560,000 into Kamala Harris for the People, to bring its grand debt-retirement total to more than $1 million.

Source: Federal Election Commission

This allowed Harris to pay off her campaign debts once and for all by late 2022.

Kamala Harris for the People’s final act came on July 10, 2023, when it transferred $48,504.42 back to the Biden for President committee and notified the Federal Election Commission of its intent to terminate itself. (Federal regulators generally won’t allow federal political committees to terminate themselves until they’ve paid off their debt.)

On Aug. 3, 2023, Federal Election Committee senior analyst Jessica Grainger informed Kamala Harris for the People that its termination request had been “accepted.”

Less than a year later, Harris would rename the Biden for President committee “Harris for President” and take over the Biden committee’s tens of millions of dollars, to which it has already added tens of millions more in the two days after Biden’s departure from the race.