Karoline Leavitt’s 2022 congressional campaign still owes over $325K in debts, per FEC filing

By William Skipworth / NH Bulletin

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s 2022 congressional campaign still owes more than 100 creditors a total of $326,370.50 as of last month. Most of the money is illegal donations the campaign is required to refund, according to the most recent Federal Election Commission disclosure.

Before joining the Trump administration as its chief spokesperson, Leavitt ran for Congress in New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional District, securing the Republican nomination but ultimately losing to incumbent U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas, a Democrat.

During the 2022 congressional race, Leavitt’s campaign accepted donations that exceeded the legal limit a single donor can contribute, according to the campaign’s amended FEC filings. This was first reported on by NOTUS in January, but a newly released filing in July shows it still hasn’t paid back any of the debt over the past three months. The campaign faces an FEC complaint filed by End Citizens United, a liberal political action committee seeking to fight the influence of money in politics. The FEC has not yet ruled on the complaint. Still, the Leavitt campaign’s amended filings reflect that the campaign accepted excessive donations.

It’s technically not illegal under federal finance campaign law to accept more money than the legal limit. However, campaigns are required to repay donors anything over the limit, which at the time was $2,900 per election, within 60 days, per FEC regulations. Leavitt’s campaign appears to not have done that based on this disclosure.

That includes donations from former New Hampshire Gov. Craig Benson and Robert Clegg Jr., the former Republican majority leader of the state Senate, who died in 2023. The campaign owes each of them $2,900, according to the filing. The campaign also owes $46,747.87 to Missouri-based political consulting firm Axiom Strategies and $41,000 to polling provider Remington Research Group for services they provided, per the filing. The filing also shows the campaign owes one of its aides, Dylan Quattrucci — who was also present at the Jan. 6, 2021 U.S. Capitol riot — $609.75 for mileage costs. The campaign hasn’t paid anything to any creditors in the three months ending July 15. The campaign also reported it has no cash on hand.

The campaign has not responded to the Bulletin’s request for comment.