While Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign for president isn’t more than two days old, she is already facing potential challenges from her Republican opponents.
Harris, who is set to take over for President Joe Biden as the presumptive Democratic nominee, could be hit with legal challenges when it comes to the approximately $240 million in cash that the Biden campaign had on hand at the beginning of the month.
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While reports suggest that Harris has a strong claim to the funds, being that she was and is on the filing statements as a candidate with Biden, challenges could arise to her claiming any of the funds donated to the president’s reelection bid.
Republican finance lawyers already started to sound the alarm as the Biden campaign changed its name to the Harris campaign.
Sean Cooksey, the chairman of the Federal Election Commission and a Republican appointed by former President Donald Trump, took to social media on Monday, alluding to his possible intentions for Harris.
“11 C.F.R. § 110.1(b)(3): ‘If the candidate is not a candidate in the general election, all contributions made for the general election shall be either returned or refunded to the contributors or redesignated ..., or reattributed ..., as appropriate.’” Cooksey posted on X.
However, even if Cooksey were to take action, it may not happen anytime soon, as the FEC takes a long time to settle complaints, meaning Harris would most likely have access to the funds and be able to use them before anything is done.
Still, Cooksey joined NPR on Monday to add more about what he believes could happen, noting that “it’s really complicated.”
“I think it’s going to have to go through a process through the FEC,” he said. “I think I expect there’s going to probably be challenges to that at the agency and probably in the courts, as well.”
However, not everyone agrees with Cooksey, as Democrat and vice chair of the FEC Ellen Weintraub told NPR that it seems to be pretty clear to her.
“It doesn’t look that complicated to me,” Weintraub said, adding that with Harris’ name already being on the statement for the organization, there shouldn’t be a problem.
“The bottom line is it’s the same committee,” Weintraub said. “She’s always been part of that committee; she never had a separate contribution limit apart from this committee that her name’s already on. It’s not just me. Lawyers all over town seem to be saying the same thing. Someone could undoubtedly come up with a technical argument, and I would keep an open mind, but it doesn’t seem all that complicated to me.”
Still, Cooksey says that different opinions will most likely be played out and settled legally.
“I think everyone would agree, though, that this is completely unprecedented, and it raises a lot of novel questions,” Cooksey said.
“I think that clever lawyers can always come up with complications. It’s kind of what they’re in the business of doing. I wouldn’t be surprised to see someone try to challenge it in some way,” Weintraub said.
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