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Trump's 2020 re-election campaign recently filed their required FEC statements, showing they had raised $13.2 million so far. It's safe to assume at this time that Trump does, in fact, intend on running for a second term, like almost every other first-term President has. It's way too soon to tell if he will have a serious primary challenge (unlike most incumbent Presidents), but even if he does, he can clearly spend these campaign funds on that election.

However, what happens if Trump can't run for a second term? What happens to his campaign funds if he is impeached (and actually removed), resigns, or dies in office?

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    Coldn't this simply be asked as (more generic) "What happens to a candidate's election funds if he stops being a candidate?" (which BTW I think already exists and has an answer).
    – SJuan76
    Commented Apr 16, 2017 at 16:29
  • @SJuan76 - Possibly, but this concerns money raised long before the actual campaigning starts. It may have the same answer, though.
    – Bobson
    Commented Apr 16, 2017 at 17:19
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    I'm tempted to raise the question "What happens to a former SoS' election funds if she's convicted to jail time?" It's as pointless and politically loaded as this question.
    – Sjoerd
    Commented Apr 16, 2017 at 18:17
  • @Sjoerd - I was trying to be neutral about it - I've retitled the question. A sitting first-term President (regardless of who it is) is the only person I can think of who would be expected to run this far out from an election. And a lot can happen in three years, so it's a viable question to wonder what happens to all that money if he has a heart attack or something like that.
    – Bobson
    Commented Apr 16, 2017 at 18:40

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Federal election law allows campaign donations to be used for many different things. Although most people imagine their contributions will be used to, you know, fund a campaign, campaign contributions can also be used for:

  • Necessary expenses for holding the office.
  • Donations to candidates for state and local offices.
  • Transfers to the committee of a political party (at any level - national, state, etc.)
  • Donations to governmental units (IRS - 170(c) )

These uses, as well as prohibited uses, begin on page 58 of this FEC collection of election law.

The explanation of 170(c) organizations can be found on page 1, part B of this IRS document.

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  • Interesting. This is exactly what I was looking for. Also, I hadn't realized the funds could be used for ongoing expenses of holding the office. That puts a different spin on Trump's already collecting for 2020. Thanks!
    – Bobson
    Commented Apr 20, 2017 at 10:44
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The funds can go towards the Republican National Committee for other elections, such as Senate and House.

One such fund is a joint fundraising effort as seen at the footer of Trump's online shop:

Image

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  • You need to explain why this is likely to be true.
    – indigochild
    Commented Apr 17, 2017 at 1:51

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