Karoline Leavitt, who is now serving as White House press secretary for Donald Trump, is facing major financial trouble from her failed attempt to win a seat in Congress in 2022. Her campaign still owes over $326,000 and hasn’t paid any of that debt off, according to recent filings with the Federal Election Commission (FEC). The debt is spread across more than 100 people and businesses. Despite this, her campaign hasn’t raised a single dollar to pay down what it owes in the last three months.
Most of this debt is connected to donations that broke campaign finance laws—either by going over legal contribution limits or being accepted when they shouldn’t have been. That money was already spent, and there’s no cash left in the campaign’s account. People who gave too much are still waiting for refunds, including some well-known figures from New Hampshire, such as former Governor Craig Benson and former state senator Robert Clegg Jr., who passed away in 2023.
A number of campaign service providers are also owed large amounts. These include Axiom Strategies, which is owed nearly $47,000, a polling company owed $41,000, and a fundraising firm owed almost $13,000. Earlier this year, Leavitt’s campaign admitted to previously hiding illegal contributions and tried to fix some of the issues, refunding a few donors, including her own parents.
Even though this is a serious financial issue, someone close to Leavitt said she doesn’t personally owe the money. Instead, the campaign is being audited by the FEC, and the process is still ongoing. Back in 2022, a political group called End Citizens United filed a formal complaint against her campaign, accusing it of breaking campaign finance rules. But the FEC hasn’t made a decision yet—and won’t anytime soon. Since May, the commission hasn’t had enough members to operate properly. It needs four commissioners to make official rulings, and right now it doesn’t have that number.
The Department of Justice could theoretically investigate, but it’s seen as unlikely, especially since the Attorney General—appointed by Trump—is unlikely to go after someone from Trump’s team. Meanwhile, the president (Trump) hasn’t nominated new members to fill the FEC vacancies, even though Congress suggested several qualified people.
The situation has drawn criticism from campaign finance watchdogs. Tiffany Muller, who leads End Citizens United, said that this case shows how politicians can break the rules and face no consequences. She called it a sign that the system is broken and easy to exploit.
Leavitt lost her 2022 race to Democrat Chris Pappas by about eight percentage points. She made headlines at the time for being just 25 years old and beating out more experienced Republicans in the primary. If she had won, she would have been the youngest woman ever elected to Congress.
Although she didn’t win the congressional seat, she made history in another way this year—becoming the youngest White House press secretary. She now holds a high-profile role, often seen delivering energetic and combative briefings at the White House. Trump has praised her as smart, tough, and a strong communicator.
When a political campaign ends in debt, like Leavitt’s, there aren’t many good options for paying it off. Legally, candidates don’t have to pay the money themselves. They can put their own money into their campaign to help pay what’s owed, but that’s rare. The campaign could also try to raise more donations—but it’s hard to convince people to give money to a losing campaign.
Some politicians have found creative ways to handle campaign debt. Hillary Clinton, for example, paid off $22.5 million in debt from her 2008 campaign by selling leftover merchandise, letting people spend time with Bill Clinton, and renting out supporter lists to other campaigns and data companies. She cleared her debt by 2013—just in time to run again in 2016.
Kamala Harris also had over $1 million in debt after dropping out of the 2020 Democratic primary. But once she joined Joe Biden’s ticket, donors were steered toward helping pay off her campaign’s debts using a little-known FEC rule. That rule was originally created to help Biden pay off his own old campaign debt when he became Barack Obama’s running mate in 2008.
However, the worst example of campaign debt may belong to Newt Gingrich. His 2012 presidential campaign still owes over $4.6 million to dozens of creditors, including major companies like Verizon, FedEx, Comcast, and even the social media platform X (formerly Twitter). Others owed money include politicians and figures who are now deceased, like Herman Cain.
Other failed presidential candidates who still owe large sums include Al Sharpton (2004), Rick Santorum (2012 and 2016), and Mike Pence (2024). Sharpton’s campaign even stopped filing legally required reports, which prompted a sharp warning from the FEC—right before the agency became too understaffed to act on it.
As of the end of last year, Sharpton’s old campaign still owed nearly $926,000. Creditors include the U.S. Treasury, UPS, and even Sharpton himself.
In short, Karoline Leavitt is far from alone in facing unresolved campaign debt. But her case shows how easily the system allows politicians to run up big bills, break the rules, and walk away without fixing the mess—especially when government oversight agencies are too broken or under-resourced to respond.
