White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s 2022 House campaign still owes more than $326,000 in debt to over 100 creditors, according to Federal Election Commission filings released in July 2026, more than three years after she lost her bid for New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional District.
Leavitt, then 25 years old, lost to incumbent Democrat Chris Pappas in November 2022 by about 8 percentage points. The campaign first disclosed its substantial debt in January 2025, more than two years after the election ended, according to NOTUS.
Most of the outstanding debt—more than $210,000—consists of unpaid refunds for excessive contributions that violated federal campaign finance limits. When a campaign receives contributions exceeding the legal limit, FEC guidelines require the committee to refund or redistribute the funds rather than spend them. Leavitt’s campaign accepted these over-the-limit donations but has never returned them.
The campaign’s most recent filing shows it has no cash on hand and raised no money during April, May or June 2026 to retire the debt. Dozens of individual donors are owed refunds, including former New Hampshire Governor Craig Benson and former state Senate Majority Leader Robert Clegg Jr., who died in 2023. Campaign vendors are also waiting—including Axiom Strategies ($46,747), Remington Research Group ($41,000) and Fundraising Inc. ($12,815).
In January 2025, Leavitt’s campaign committee amended 17 financial reports to account for previously unreported contributions exceeding federal limits. By April 2025, the committee had refunded a small number of donors, including Leavitt’s parents, according to NOTUS. But the vast majority of creditors remain unpaid.
Federal law shields candidates from personal liability for their campaign committees’ debts, meaning Leavitt herself is not legally obligated to pay creditors. For campaigns that lose elections and run out of money, options for retiring debt are limited: the candidate may contribute personal funds, or the committee may attempt to raise money from new donors—a difficult task for a failed campaign. Some high-profile candidates have found creative solutions. Hillary Clinton paid down $22.5 million from her 2008 campaign by selling leftover merchandise, offering face time with Bill Clinton and renting supporter data to other Democrats and private brokers, ultimately clearing the debt by 2013.
Leavitt’s situation is complicated by the nature of her debt. Because much of it consists of mandatory refunds for illegal contributions, the committee is legally prohibited from using any remaining funds to pay other creditors until the excessive contributions are returned. The campaign report indicates it has no money in the bank to issue those refunds.
End Citizens United, a liberal watchdog group, filed an FEC complaint against Leavitt’s committee in November 2022 alleging it violated campaign finance law by accepting and failing to refund the excessive contributions. But the complaint remains unresolved. The FEC entered a de facto shutdown in May 2025 after losing the minimum four commissioners needed to conduct high-level business such as formalizing investigations and issuing penalties. President Trump has not yet sent nominees to the Senate to restore the agency’s quorum.
“Cases like this send a clear message: If you break campaign finance laws, nothing will happen to you,” End Citizens United President Tiffany Muller told OpenSecrets. “It’s open season for corrupt leaders who want to game the system and get away with it.”
Leavitt went on to become the nation’s youngest White House press secretary in 2025, a position she continues to hold. She has become one of the most visible members of the Trump administration, conducting frequent and often animated press briefings.
Sources
- NOTUS — Confirmed the $326,000+ debt figure, composition of debt as refunds for excessive contributions, and disclosure timing
- OpenSecrets — Detailed debt breakdown, creditor names and amounts, campaign fundraising during 2026, and FEC enforcement status
- The Independent — Verified the debt amount and timing of disclosure
- New Hampshire Public Radio — Confirmed debt details and ethical questions raised
- People.com — Confirmed over 100 creditors and illegal donations
