Kamala Harris formally takes over Biden-Harris campaign account – she’s the only one who could

(CNN) — The Biden-Harris campaign on Sunday formally amended filings with the Federal Election Commission to rename its principal committee and declare Kamala Harris a candidate for president.

The move means that should she remain on the ticket for the general election, according to the Campaign Legal Center, Harris could assume control of the Biden-Harris campaign account, which had nearly $96 million cash in hand at the end of June.

“Specifically, because Biden and Harris share a campaign committee, the Vice President and her running mate can continue using the campaign’s existing funds for the general election if she is on the Democratic ticket as either the presidential or vice-presidential nominee,” Trevor Potter, founder and president of Campaign Legal Center, said in a statement.

Just hours after President Joe Biden withdrew from the race, the campaign committee filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission, which noted that the “committee name is different than previously reported,” re-designating the committee as “Harris for President.”

The committee also filed a letter with the commission stating that “Vice President Harris is now a candidate for United States President in the 2024 election and will henceforth be conducting campaign activities only in pursuit of that office.”

The ability to change the FEC filing was one reason why many political observers felt Harris would be practical replacement for Biden since her name was already on the campaign account.

Both a longtime conservative election law expert at the Heritage Foundation, Hans von Spakovsky, and Federal Election Commissioner Dara Lindenbaum have publicly said Harris could access what Biden raised through his principal campaign committee, because it is registered for both the president and vice president.

Lindenbaum, a Democrat seen as a swing vote on the often-deadlocked commission, wrote on X, “If Kamala Harris becomes the Democratic Party nominee, she gets access to the Joe Biden campaign funds.”

A different general election Democratic presidential nominee than Harris wouldn’t be able to access that cash as easily, von Spakovsky wrote on Fox News. He added that there’s no requirement that any donations be returned, although the campaign could always choose to do so.

But in this unprecedented time, there’s no guarantee there won’t be questions over the money that was raised for the general election account since Biden will no longer be at the top of the ticket.

For instance, Sean Cooksey, the current FEC chairman, who is a Republican appointee, wrote in an X post that a campaign finance regulation says that donations may need to be returned or refunded to donors, but did not elaborate or address the issue of Harris already being on the campaign account.

“It is going to be a challenge,” Craig Engle, a former lawyer for an FEC commissioner who represents Republican candidates and Democratic groups in the 2024 election cycle, said on Sunday. “A campaign cannot keep money for an election the candidate isn’t running in.” Engle said there’s a “gray area” on whether Biden could send money back to his general election donors and encourage them to give it immediately back to Harris.

It’s possible the Biden campaign will need to ask the Federal Election Commission for guidance, in the form of an advisory opinion, in the coming weeks, Engle added.

Another option would be for Biden to transfer the campaign account’s balance to the Democratic National Committee or to a super PAC. That could allow Harris to start a new campaign account, revisit donors who had already maxed out contributions to the Biden-Harris campaign and hit them up again, one election attorney said.

Derek Muller, an election law professor at the University of Notre Dame, said campaigns are often well ahead spending money before the FEC or courts decide what’s allowed, pushing the final answers until after Election Day.

“I think there’s going there’s going to be litigation about it,” Muller told CNN. “I think the general consensus view is, because Harris’s name is already on the paperwork, she can accept it for the general election. [But] it’s not the universal view.”

The FEC hasn’t responded to a request for comment from CNN.

CNN’s Fredreka Schouten and Matt Holt contributed to this report.

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