Correction: This totals raised by the RNC and DNC recount accounts have been corrected. Some funds were double counted in the original version of this article.
If the polls are accurate, today’s presidential election will likely be decided by razor-thin margins, coming down to which candidate can eke out a majority in a handful of hotly-contested swing states. Most polling aggregators have Trump and Harris within the margin of error in seven states.
It’s very likely that at least some of the swing states will face recounts and legal challenges, and if they do, the Republican National Committee stands with a significant cash advantage over the Democrats. According to Federal Election Commission records, the RNC has raised more than $54 million for its recount and legal proceedings account this cycle, while the DNC has raised $13.8 million for those purposes.
According to the Federal Election Commission, the funds that national parties raised for their “recount accounts” can only be used “to defray expenses incurred with respect to the preparation for and conduct of election recounts and contests and related legal proceedings.” Generally, the funds are used to hire attorneys to file legal challenges and defenses of election results and to oversee recounts, as well as for filing fees, travel expenses, and other costs related to these procedures. They cannot be used for campaign or general operating expenses.
Despite the DNC’s smaller legal proceedings budget, it may be able to tap into its campaign funds for some of the work and raise money in the future to pay it back. Under a FEC advisory opinion from 2010, the national parties can use general campaign funds to pay initially for some recount and legal activities, and then reimburse the campaign account from the recount account for the percentage of the work that was for legal and recount work.
Additional funding for post-election legal and recount matters can come from whatever money the candidates have left in their campaigns after Election Day, and the candidates and parties can fundraise for these legal battles after the election, as the Trump and Biden campaigns both did in 2020. The Harris campaign had $118 million in cash on hand as of Oct. 16 while the Trump campaign had $36 million, but it’s not yet known where their campaign accounts will stand after the election.
Over the past six months, the RNC has fired off around 130 election-related lawsuits across 26 states, according to ABC News. The lawsuits have touched on claims that non-citizens are voting, ensuring voter ID requirements, and pushing back against rules around mail ballots and absentee voting. The RNC’s litigation lead is Steve Kenny, a former Jones Day attorney who is now a senior counsel for the GOP group.
Wendy Weiser, director of the Democracy Program at the nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice, said that the record number of pre-election lawsuits was launched in order to undermine confidence in the outcome. “The lawsuits are not about getting legal relief, but about spreading conspiracy theories,” Weiser told ABC News.
