The Kamala Harris campaign says it does not take donations from registered federal lobbyists, but Sludge found that it received donations from at least 20 of them from the day it took over the Biden campaign account on July 21 through July 31, the last date for which campaign contributions data is currently available.
The donations were not refunded as of the most current data from the Federal Election Commission.
“As millions of Americans continue to support our efforts, our team vets all donations as quickly as possible to ensure they comply with the law and campaign policy, and we promptly refund any donations that do not,” a campaign spokesperson told Sludge after this article was published. The campaign initially declined to comment.
According to the spokesperson, at least some of the donations highlighted in this post have been refunded and that will be reflected on the campaign’s FEC filing due in October that will cover September transactions. The campaign did not specify if the refunds were made after or before Sludge inquired about them.
Several of the Harris campaign’s lobbyist donors had previously given to the Biden campaign, which Harris took over. The Biden campaign also said it was not accepting donations from lobbyists, but none of these donations were refunded.
Here are 20 registered lobbyists who donated to the Harris campaign during its first ten days:
