By Jason Lange and Stephanie Kelly
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Joe Biden's reelection campaign had a massive bank account when he dropped out of the race and it could benefit Vice President Kamala Harris' White House run or that of a different Democratic nominee, but some experts expect legal challenges over how the money is spent.
Biden, an 81-year-old Democrat who was in a tight race with Republican challenger Donald Trump, endorsed Harris when he ended his reelection bid, and Harris quickly took control of Biden's campaign accounts and is now racing to lock up the Democratic presidential nomination.
HOW MUCH MONEY DID BIDEN HAVE?
Biden's campaign reported to the Federal Election Commission on Saturday that it had $95 million in the bank at the end of June, a significant sum though less than the $128 million the Trump campaign reported to the FEC.
HOW DID HARRIS TAKE CONTROL OF BIDEN'S MONEY?
Immediately after Biden dropped out of the race, the campaign filed forms with the FEC scrubbing Biden's name from registration documents and changing the official name of the presidential campaign account to "Harris for President" from "Biden for President."
CAN THE TRANSFER OF CONTROL OF $95 MILLION BE THAT EASY?
Experts on campaign finance law disagree on whether Harris could be vulnerable to legal challenges. Saurav Ghosh, a lawyer at the Campaign Legal Center, a non-partisan watchdog group, said because Harris was already part of "Biden for President" as the vice presidential candidate, her claim on the money should be secure. "Anyone challenging the legality of this move has slim odds of success," Ghosh said.
Charlie Spies, a prominent campaign finance lawyer for Republicans, said Republicans will likely challenge the transfer of control of the money to Harris, arguing Biden was the only legal candidate. "It was raised under his name," Spies said. However, Spies and Ghosh agreed that election regulators would be unlikely to resolve the issue before the Nov. 5 presidential election.
WHAT ELSE COULD GET IN THE WAY OF A DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE HAVING CONTROL OF THE MONEY?
While Harris has secured numerous endorsements from party leaders, it remains possible that another candidate could emerge and win the party's official nomination. Because of rules limiting the size of campaign contributions, a new Democratic ticket could only accept a few thousand dollars directly from the former Biden campaign account.
Harris would have the option of refunding contributions to donors or transferring an unlimited sum to the Democratic Party which could spend the money supporting the party's nominee. Not all of that spending could be coordinated with the nominee's campaign, and the Democratic Party's spending might face higher costs than the campaign which is legally entitled to heavily-discounted television advertising rates in the last 60 days before an election.