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| - U.S. law requires all campaign donations and expenditures to be reported to the Federal Election Commission. The latest FEC data available was from Oct. 16, 2024, and did not show the Harris campaign as having any debt. Snopes will update this fact check when more recent data from the FEC is published.
Following U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's victory in the 2024 presidential election, many social media users began investigating and criticizing the campaign strategies of his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, to help explain the result.
One topic of research was the Harris campaign's finances — despite Harris having only a short time to campaign after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race in July and she replaced him on the Democratic ticket, her campaign raised more than $1 billion.
An X post from Politico's California bureau chief claiming the Harris campaign ended with $20 million of debt raised questions about how the campaign spent its money. Snopes reached out to the Harris campaign and to the Politico reporter for comment and will update the story as they respond.
This claim spread rapidly on social media, and it was reported by conservative news media outlets including Fox News and the New York Post. Otheroutlets that covered the topic used such conservative media outlets as sources. Lindy Li, a Democratic National Committee official, said on Fox's morning show "Fox & Friends Weekend" that the campaign was a "disaster" and alleged it had ended in debt.
All candidates for federal office are required to report all money they earn and spend to the Federal Election Commission. Those donations are publicly available through the FEC's campaign finance database.
However, that database's most recent update was on Oct. 16, 2024, as of this writing. As such, Snopes can't give this claim a definitive rating until data for the end of October and beginning of November comes in.
As of Oct. 16, the Harris campaign had raised more than $997 million directly, including money raised by the Biden campaign before he dropped out. It had spent $880 million, meaning that through Oct. 16 the campaign had surplus of $118 million and was not in debt.
Sources
"Biden Drops out of 2024 Race after Disastrous Debate Inflamed Age Concerns. VP Harris Gets His Nod." AP News, 21 July 2024, https://apnews.com/article/biden-drops-out-2024-election-ddffde72838370032bdcff946cfc2ce6.
Cavazos, Nidia, et al. Kamala Harris Campaign Surpasses $1 Billion in Fundraising, Source Says - CBS News. 10 Oct. 2024, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kamala-harris-campaign-fundraising-1-billion/.
King, Ryan. DNC Official Lindy Li Blasts Harris Campaign: '$1B Disaster.' 10 Nov. 2024, https://nypost.com/2024/11/10/us-news/dnc-official-lindy-li-blasts-harris-campaign-as-a-1-billion-disaster/.
Miller, Andrew. "'$1 Billion Disaster': Here's What FEC Filings Show about Harris Campaign's 3 Month Spending Spree." Fox News, 12 Nov. 2024, https://www.foxnews.com/politics/1-billion-disaster-heres-what-fec-filings-show-about-harris-campaigns-3-month-spending-spree.
"Offsets to Operating Expenditures." FEC.Gov, https://www.fec.gov/help-candidates-and-committees/filing-reports/offsets-operating-expenditures/. Accessed 12 Nov. 2024.
Reporter, Alia Shoaib Freelance News. "Is Kamala Harris Not Paying Staff after Running out of Money? What We Know." Newsweek, 11 Nov. 2024, https://www.newsweek.com/kamala-harris-paying-staffers-debt-1983814.
Reporter, James Bickerton US News. "Is Kamala Harris' Campaign $20M in Debt? What We Know." Newsweek, 7 Nov. 2024, https://www.newsweek.com/kamala-harris-campaign-20m-debt-what-we-know-1981936.
Timotija, Filip. "Harris Campaign a '$1 Billion Disaster,' Democratic Official Says." The Hill, 9 Nov. 2024, https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4982339-dnc-official-calls-harris-campaign-a-disaster/.
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