Citizens United and GOP states file FEC complaint over Biden-Harris funding transfer

Citizens United and 16 GOP-led states filed a Federal Election Commission complaint Thursday accusing Vice President Kamala Harris of improperly taking over President Joe Biden‘s campaign funds after he withdrew from the race.

The complaint asks the FEC’s six-person commission, which is evenly divided between Democratic and Republican members, to prevent Harris from “using her ill-gotten gains” for the Nov. 5 election.

After Biden suspended his reelection bid and endorsed Harris, the Biden campaign changed its name to the Harris campaign, giving her access to approximately $96 million of campaign funds it had amassed as of June 30. The Trump campaign also filed a similar complaint earlier this week in response to the Harris campaign’s plans to seep up Biden donors’ dollars.

Harris campaign spokesperson Charles Kretchmer Lutvak called complaints from the Trump campaign baseless, suggesting they were a distraction effort by Republicans. 

“Republicans may be jealous that Democrats are energized to defeat Donald Trump and his MAGA allies, but baseless legal claims, like the ones they’ve made for years to try to suppress votes and steal elections, will only distract them while we sign up volunteers, talk to voters, and win this election,” said Lutvak.

The Washington Examiner contacted the FEC for a response.

The conservative group Citizens United was joined by the U.S. Virgin Islands and GOP state parties, including those from Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, and others. The Harris campaign reported raising $100 million shortly after Biden’s withdrawal, with campaign records due in mid-October.

Both complaints filed this week followed recent public statements by Republican FEC Chair Sean Cooksey, who noted regulations might restrict Harris’s access to these funds, although some campaign finance experts have suggested a resolution could be unlikely before the November election.

For example, the FEC is still handling cases from the 2016 election.

In light of the agency’s notoriously slow pace, Citizens United’s complaint called on the FEC to “immediately review this matter and to take all appropriate enforcement actions to hold the respondents accountable for this massive campaign finance violation.”