Republican FEC chair suggests Harris may not get Biden war chest

Sean Cooksey, the Trump-appointed chair of the Federal Election Commission (FEC), suggested Monday that Vice President Kamala Harris may not be able to access the millions of dollars remaining from President Biden’s campaign, which many campaign finance lawyers say is rightfully hers.

Biden shook up the 2024 presidential race Sunday when he dropped out amid concerns about his age and mental acuity and endorsed his vice president. The campaign had just under $96 million in cash on hand as of June 30, according to its most recent report to the FEC, and filed paperwork to change its name from “Biden to President” to “Harris for President” within hours of the president’s decision.

Campaign finance lawyers previously told The Hill that Harris would be able to access the funds if she becomes the nominee. Democrats have started to coalesce behind Harris, but Cooksey called the situation “complicated” and suggested it would be challenged in the agency and at the courts.

“I think it’s really complicated, is the short answer,” Cooksey told NPR’s Morning Edition. “What he’s attempting to do is to give his entire committee, the cash and all the assets, over to another person.”

“I think it’s gonna have to go through a process, through the FEC,” Cooksey added. “I expect, there’s probably going to be challenges to that at the agency, and probably in the courts as well.”

Democratic Commissioner Dara Lindenbaum, who chaired the commission last year, pushed back on the suggestion that Harris would not be able to access those funds.

“It’s quite clear, Vice President Harris can continue using the campaign committee and its funds,” Lindenbaum told The Hill.

Steve Roberts, former general counsel to Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, was also skeptical of Cooksey’s comments.

“This interpretation is likely wishful thinking,” Roberts told The Hill.

“Since the declarations of candidacy for 2024, the reasonable interpretation is that the Biden campaign committee is a shared one between Harris / Biden, and perhaps uniquely so because they are incumbents. Otherwise, in 2020, Trump-Pence wouldn’t have had a shared committee, but would have set up separate committees and had their own contribution limits,” he explained.

Cooksey was appointed to the FEC in 2020 by former President Trump, who last week accepted the Republican presidential nomination in Milwaukee. 

While Cooksey told NPR it is “entirely reasonable” to scrutinize the political motivations of members of the 6-person commission, which may have no more than three members from each political party at any given time, he defended his record.

“I always try to approach these issues based on what the law requires and what is the best policy, not what’s gonna give people a certain partisan advantage in the short term,” Cooksey said.

Cooksey has sided with Democratic candidates and committees in controversial opinions that have angered many campaign finance reform advocates, including recent decisions that allow candidates to raise unlimited funds for state-level ballot measures, remove restrictions from certain mass text messages and make it easier for candidates and super PACs — which can raise unlimited sums of money — to coordinate on canvassing.

Roberts said that while the transfer may face challenges, the short time frame between the Democratic National Convention next month and the general election in November will be a challenge.

“The Trump campaign should and likely will challenge this use of funds, but the FEC will be unable to prevent anything given the extremely short period of time between now and when the Harris campaign will start drawing down those general election contributions post-convention,” Roberts said.

Cooksey told NPR that the situation is “really unprecedented” and suggested private parties could file complaints or advisory opinion requests, acknowledging those processes are incredibly slow and there are only 106 days until the general election.

If Harris is not the nominee or is unable to receive the funds, then they may be transferred to the Democratic National Committee or to a super PAC supporting the nominee.