After President Joe Biden dropped out of the race for the Oval Office, he put his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris to become the Democratic nominee.
Beyond qualifications, having the VP head the ticket in place of Biden makes practical sense for accessing the millions of campaign dollars already raised by the Biden-Harris campaign, Alan Solomont, former finance chairman of the Democratic National Committee, told Boston Public Radio on Monday.
“She would be the one person who would be able to use the money because she was on the ticket, and the money was given to the ticket,” he explained.
The Federal Election Commission might make it more difficult for her to access those funds. In an interview with NPR on Monday, FEC Chairman Sean Cooksey — who was appointed by former President Donald Trump — said the Biden-Harris campaign money will likely have to go through a process at the FEC and potential challenges.
“There’s a process in which private parties can file complaints with the Federal Election Commission. There’s also a process in which they can prospectively ask for advisory opinions,” Cooksey told NPR’s Michel Martin. “One of the problems with those processes is they can take a lot of time, and we don’t have a lot of time up until the election. ... I think there’s going to be a lot of challenges in the courts as well.”
Solomont largely dismissed those comments.
“I’m not surprised that there’s mischief afoot by a Republican appointee to the FEC. But, I don’t think at the end of the day that will go anywhere,” he said.
But he noted that even if those funds were delayed or Harris was cut off from accessing them, Harris still has resources of her own. In the hours immediately after Biden’s announcement Sunday, Harris received nearly $50 million in donations, an amount reported by the Harris campaign.
“People who give $5 and $10 and $25 in small amounts, I mean, that’s the bulk of the money that’s come in in the last 24 hours,” he said.
Solomont said he had personally heard from large donors who were eagerly awaiting the opportunity to donate to Harris. Now that she is the likely nominee, some of those donors have sent in their contributions now, while others are waiting “for the right moment,” he said.
“Her campaign will be well-resourced, and by people who will welcome the possibility of the first Black woman in the Oval Office, and the first woman in the Oval Office,” Solomont said.
A strength of the Biden campaign has been an on-the-ground effort with 1,500 staff members, 300 offices and volunteers to reach voters in battleground states. Motivating voters with this labor-intensive effort costs money, Solomont said.
“The reason the money is so important in the Harris campaign is really to support this army that’s been put out in the field. That’s how Barack Obama, by the way, won in 2008. That’s how Kamala Harris will win in 2024,” he said.
