The Republican and Democratic National Committees are already raising millions preparing for an expected flurry of litigation and potential recounts after Election Day, and while Vice President Kamala Harris and the DNC have outraised Republicans this election cycle, the GOP is so far investing more cash in what happens after the polls have closed.
Former President Donald Trump holds a rally at Madison Square Garden in New York, NY on October 27.
Litigation and recounts are expected after ballots are counted in the presidential election, as polling predicts an extremely close race and former President Donald Trump—who filed dozens of lawsuits after the 2020 election—has already started sowing distrust in the vote count.
Both parties are preparing massive legal operations to file and respond to litigation on and after Election Day, which the Campaign Legal Center notes will be paid for through a combination of candidate funds and special recount accounts set up through the RNC and DNC.
National parties have separate recount accounts that can only be used for post-election challenges—including on behalf of federal candidates—and their separation from the main party funds means that even if donors have contributed the maximum amount to the RNC or DNC, they can still give more money on top of that to the party’s separate recount account, up to $106,500.
Federal filings show the RNC had raised $90 million for its recount account through Sept. 30, as compared to only $14.3 million raised by the DNC through Oct. 16—even as the DNC has raised more money overall, taking in $538.8 million to the RNC’s $390.2 million.
Republicans have spent $20 million on legal expenses so far through their recount account—which can spend money before the election getting ready for post-election challenges—while the DNC has spent $27.6 million on legal expenses in total so far this election cycle, but has not specified any as coming from their recount fund.
How much the presidential campaigns have for post-election contests is less clear: Post-election efforts can also be funded using whatever money candidates have left in their campaign accounts after the election, according to the Campaign Legal Center, but those amounts aren’t known yet, and neither candidate has yet reported a separate account dedicated to raising money for recounts and post-election efforts, as President Joe Biden did after the 2020 election.
Since federal filings on campaign and national party funds are only available through Oct. 16, we won’t know if there’s been more money raised or spent on recounts and post-election efforts since then until after Election Day.
National parties can spend money on recount-related expenses from their main campaign funds and then get reimbursed later by the party’s recount account, the Federal Election Commission has ruled. That means while the RNC has reported spending more on recount-related legal expenses now, the DNC could be using its main war chest spending money on post-election expenses that it will reimburse later.
While it won’t be clear until after Election Day where any recounts or post-election legal challenges will play out, federal filings show the RNC’s recount fund has already spent at least $2.7 million paying law firms based in the seven biggest battleground states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Of those states, the most has been spent in Michigan, where the RNC has reported paying law firms nearly $900,000, followed by Arizona (approximately $760,000) and Pennsylvania (approximately $580,000). Most of the party’s legal expenses at this point have gone toward major firms based in Washington, D.C., or New York City, election lawyers and attorneys with known ties to the GOP. Dhillon Law Group, which has handled a number of Trump campaign cases leading up to the election, has already been paid nearly $500,000, for instance, even before the RNC announced in October that the firm’s chief attorney Harmeet Dhillon would lead the GOP’s “election integrity” team in Arizona.
That remains to be seen, and neither campaign responded to a request for comment on their fundraising for post-election efforts and where the funds for any lawsuits or recounts will come from. Harris has vastly outraised Trump ahead of the election, taking in $997.2 million through Oct. 16 with $118 million in cash on hand. Her Harris Victory Fund, which raises money for both the campaign and DNC, had $85.7 million in cash as of mid-October. Harris’ team has also been aggressively spending cash ahead of Election Day, however, and it’s unclear how much she’ll have to use for post-election efforts by the time the polls have closed. That being said, her fundraising prowess suggests she’ll likely be able to quickly raise money from her supporters for any legal challenges against Trump as and after the votes are counted. The RNC’s cash reserves for post-election efforts will help bolster Trump as he’s struggled more with fundraising, with his campaign taking in only $338 million through Oct. 16 with $36.2 million in cash on hand. The ex-president could also tap into funds from other PACs that are affiliated with him, like his Save America PAC, which was founded after the 2020 election and has since become the main fund for Trump’s personal legal bills. That PAC and a similar Trump-affiliated PAC called Make America Great Again PAC. had $5.8 million in combined cash on hand as of mid-October. (Those PACs are different from super PACs, which work on behalf of candidates but aren’t formally affiliated with their campaigns, and thus wouldn’t be able to directly fund recounts or campaign lawsuits.) Trump also raised millions from his supporters after the 2020 election to fund his efforts to overturn the vote count, and is likely to do so again should he lose to Harris.
The DNC has not yet responded to a request for comment on its fundraising for its recount account, but public announcements and donation pages suggest the RNC and Trump campaign have been more aggressively funneling money toward paying for its efforts after Election Day. The RNC launched a massive “election integrity” effort in April that directed significant resources toward efforts like lawsuits and post-election challenges that defend against purported voter fraud, prioritizing those efforts even over more traditional campaign spending like canvassing and knocking on voters’ doors. (Voter fraud is exceedingly rare and there is no evidence of widespread fraud in recent elections.) When the Trump campaign joined forces with the RNC after he became the formal nominee, he also formed joint fundraising committees that direct money to both the Trump campaign and national and state parties. The fine print on those committees’ donation pages notes that once donors give the maximum amount to the Trump campaign ($3,300), any money that’s left over will next go to Trump’s recount efforts before going after that to the RNC and state parties—and, in the case of Trump’s committee for bigger donors, also to pay his personal legal bills. The Trump campaign and RNC have not responded to requests for comment on whether the Trump recount fund that’s mentioned refers to the RNC’s recount fund or a separate account through the Trump campaign. Either way, the funding hierarchy places a bigger emphasis on recounts than the Harris campaign. Donations to Harris’ Harris Victory Fund go to the Harris campaign and then the DNC and state parties, according to the donation page, though federal filings show particularly large donations to the fund do get partially directed to the DNC’s recount account.
Both Republicans and Democrats are well prepared for the expected bevy of lawsuits on Election Day and beyond, reports suggest. An RNC official told ABC News the party is ready to deploy 5,000 volunteer attorneys, and has staff already on the ground in 18 states to handle “election integrity” efforts. The Harris campaign has corralled a central team of lawyers to handle its post-election legal efforts, telling ABC the Biden and Harris campaigns have been strategizing on their post-election litigation strategy since Biden announced his reelection in 2023. (He later dropped out of the race in July, with Harris replacing him as the nominee.) According to CNN, the Harris campaign has recruited hundreds of lawyers and has already drafted hypothetical legal documents they can tailor to specific challenges, also partnering with local law firms that have more specialized knowledge about individual states’ election laws.
The anticipated onslaught of litigation following the November election comes after Trump set a precedent of widespread post-election lawsuits in 2020. The Trump campaign and its allies filed at least 60 lawsuits challenging the election results in battleground states, losing all but one minor lawsuit that only affected a small number of votes. The litigation strategy was part of a broader attempt by Trump and his allies to overturn the election results, which was unsuccessful and led to Trump and many of his associates getting indicted in state and federal court. (Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him, though some of his associates have taken plea deals.) Trump was able to sow distrust in the results as the vote count stretched on for days given the narrow difference in votes between him and Biden—which may be the case again in this presidential election, as polls show Harris and Trump running neck-and-neck in battleground states. Trump has already started questioning the election results and making baseless fraud allegations in the runup to Election Day, suggesting he may challenge the results in court if Harris wins as he did in 2020.