Kamala Harris, who ended her failed presidential campaign $20 million in debt, is soliciting donations to support a recount for incumbent Bob Casey against Republican Dave McCormick, the declared winner of the Pennsylvania Senate race. But rather than help Casey in his longshot ballot bid, Harris’s gambit may end up lining the pockets of her campaign and those of controversial campaign lawyer Marc Elias.
The Associated Press called the race for McCormick on Thursday. He led Casey by around 32,000 votes at the time, and that lead has since grown to 36,000. The margin hovers just above the 0.5 percent threshold that automatically triggers a recount under Pennsylvania law.
Whether a recount will take place is unclear, but the Harris campaign and Elias have nonetheless swooped in to help Casey reverse the projected outcome of the election. “The Pennsylvania race is not over. More soon,” said Elias, who joined the Harris campaign legal team in August.
The Harris Fight Fund, an arm of the campaign, issued an email to supporters Thursday seeking money to fund a potential recount in Pennsylvania, and ostensibly to ensure that Democratic victories hold up in Arizona and Nevada.
“There are very important Senate races where ballots are still being counted in Arizona, Nevada, and Pennsylvania. These candidates may be our only chance at checking Donald Trump’s power, and they need our help to get across the finish line,” reads an email from the Harris Fight Fund.
But the fine print of the fundraising pitch suggests that Harris and the DNC—not Casey and other Senate candidates—stand to gain a lion’s share of the money raised from the donation drive.
According to the fundraising email, the first $41,300 of an individual’s donation goes to the Democratic National Committee, the next $3,300 is allocated to the Kamala Harris “recount account,” and remaining funds are split evenly between all 50 Democratic state parties.
The Casey campaign has solicited donations on its own. It also said Casey, who has accused Republicans in the past of promoting “election denialism,” vowed to stay in the fight for the long haul.
That seems even more likely now that Elias has jumped into the fray. But a recount may not even occur, according to Republican sources in Pennsylvania, raising questions about how Democrats plan to use money raised in the pro-Casey pitch.
Mark Harris, a partner at the Republican consulting firm Coldspark, said McCormick’s lead will likely “continue to grow” as remaining ballots are counted.
“There’s a better chance than not that there [will not be] an automatic recount,” another Republican source close to the McCormick campaign told the Washington Free Beacon.
McCormick can expect to increase his lead by up to 7,000 votes from Cambria County, a Republican stronghold, the source said. He will lose ground in Democrat-heavy Philadelphia, where around 20,000 provisional votes remain to be counted, but not enough to flip the count in favor of Casey.
If a recount is triggered, Casey can expect to pick up only a few hundred votes in a best-case scenario for Democrats, said the source, who noted that “Bob Casey has the ability to not do an automatic recount.”
“They may bring Elias to raise money for the DNC and stir up the base on Twitter, but at the expense of Bob Casey’s legacy,” said the Republican, who was granted anonymity to speak freely about the fluid situation.
“There is no path forward for Elias but money-making,” Coldspark’s Harris said.
Elias’s reputation grew in Democratic circles more than a decade ago when he prevailed on behalf of comedian Al Franken in a recount battle for Minnesota Senate. He has since emerged as the party’s go-to hired gun for ballot recounts and ballot-related matters.
He has also embraced win-at-all-costs tactics that blur legal and ethical boundaries. In 2016, Elias commissioned the infamous Steele dossier on behalf of the Hillary Clinton campaign. The document falsely accused Donald Trump of colluding with the Russian government. The Clinton campaign and DNC were fined by the FEC for falsely stating that dossier-related payments to Elias’s firm were for “legal services” rather than opposition research.
During the current election cycle, Elias’s law firm, Elias Law Group, formed an organization called Evidence for Impact that funded mailers sent to voters in Pennsylvania and other swing states in favor of anti-abortion activist Randall Terry, part of an overt ploy to pull votes away from Donald Trump in key battleground states.
The Biden campaign and DNC cut ties with Elias last year over his controversial legal tactics, many of which have backfired on the Democratic Party.
In 2021, Elias represented New York Democratic congressman Anthony Brindisi in a challenge against the victory of Republican Claudia Tenney. Elias alleged compromised voting machines took thousands of votes from Brindisi. A state court ruled against the Democrats. The case drew scrutiny for Elias, who at the time was accusing Republicans of subverting democracy by claiming voter machine errors cost them victories in Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Arizona.
That same year, Elias pressured House Democratic leaders to overturn Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks’s (R., Iowa) win over his client, Rita Hart. A Texas appeals court sanctioned Elias in 2021 for “misleading” statements he made to overturn a ban on straight-ticket ballot options.
The Harris campaign, Casey campaign, and Elias’s firm did not respond to requests for comment.
Original News Source – Washington Free Beacon
Running For Office? Conservative Campaign Management – Election Day Strategies!