Indebted DNC bought Kamala Harris donor list for $6.5M more than a year after the 2024 election

WASHINGTON — The Democratic National Committee purchased a donor list from a political action committee backing ex-Vice President Kamala Harris for $6.5 million late last year — even as the national party’s main fundraising arm remained more than $16 million in debt.The Fight for the People PAC received $3.5 million from the DNC on Nov.28 and another $3 million on Dec.

29, according to the latest Federal Election Commission filings that were first reported by The New York Times over the weekend.The Harris-aligned super PAC then used the cash infusion to pay off campaign expenses more than a year after the Democrat’s loss to Donald Trump — including more than $3.9 million in media production, polling fees totaling $293,883, and $99,100 to the hip-hop band The Roots’ managing company for a performance in Philadelphia.The Republican National Committee bested the DNC in total fundraising for 2025, recording more than $172 million in contributions — and at least $95 million cash on hand.The DNC took in nearly $146 million in total fundraising, but had just over $14 million cash on hand and was $17.5 million in the red as of Dec.31.In total, the party has absorbed around $22 million in debts related to the Harris campaign.At the time of the first payment for the donor list, the DNC had roughly $12.6 million cash on hand and $15.9 million in debts, raising “questions” among some party members about the prudence of the purchaseThe party lost around $6 million from its campaign war chest in November alone as its spending outpaced donations.Deep-pocketed donors like media mogul Barry Diller and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg had expressed wariness of contributing any more funds to the Democratic Party as far back as June 2025.“For me, this really brings questions about the campaign’s finances, how transparent everything has been regarding the 2024 campaign, what has been spent and what are the lessons we need to learn coming from that ex...