Top Democratic Party leaders are raising concerns over the financial aftermath of the Harris-Walz campaign, which has reportedly ended with tens of millions of dollars in debt. This looming financial burden could become a significant issue for the Democratic National Committee (DNC) as it looks to rebuild after the election results.
Despite raising over $1 billion before Election Day, the campaign’s spending is now under intense scrutiny. Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings have revealed hefty payments to celebrities like Oprah Winfrey and significant expenditures on event costs and social media influence efforts.
Sources familiar with the situation told Axios that the potential debt from the Harris campaign could complicate the DNC’s recovery. One Harris aide expressed confusion about how such a substantial sum of money was raised without securing victories in key swing states. “How do you raise a historic amount of money and not win a single swing state?” the aide asked. “It seems we lost the national narrative, and that’s what we need to diagnose.”
While campaign officials had anticipated a delayed election result, hoping to fundraise as votes were counted in the days following Election Day, the reality proved otherwise. President-elect Trump quickly secured a decisive victory, leaving the Harris campaign with a financial mess to manage.
Among the campaign’s more shocking expenditures, FEC filings show two separate $500,000 payments to Oprah Winfrey’s production company, Harpo, in mid-October. These payments came after Winfrey appeared with Harris at a town hall and shortly before she joined Harris on stage at a Philadelphia rally. Though Winfrey denied personally accepting any payment, Harpo clarified that the funds were intended to cover production costs associated with the events.
In addition to celebrity fees, the Harris campaign also paid $4 million to Village Marketing Agency, a firm specializing in connecting clients with social media influencers. Celebrities who joined Harris on the campaign trail included high-profile names like Beyoncé, Bon Jovi, Ricky Martin, Jennifer Lopez, and Bruce Springsteen.
The campaign also spent more than $12 million on digital media consultants and invested six figures in building a set for Harris’s appearance on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast. Event production alone cost at least $15 million, according to FEC records, much of which was tied to high-profile events and concerts featuring celebrity performances.
Critics have been vocal about the campaign’s spending, with some calling it a massive failure. “This is a $1 billion disaster,” said Lindy Li, a Harris surrogate and DNC National Finance Committee member, during an interview with Fox & Friends Weekend. The DNC now faces the challenge of addressing this financial fallout while trying to rebuild the party’s momentum in the wake of the election.
