Let’s say Hillary Clinton suffers a health problem and has to drop out of the race. What happens to the millions of dollars in campaign donations she has collected? does it get returned to the donors? Can she “will” it to a candidate of her choice?
Money contributed directly to a campaign organization may be returned to donors, or held for a future run, or donated to charity. Usually dropouts have long since run out of money, anyway. If they have some left, they often donate some of their campaign funds to whomever they decide to endorse, but this is limited.
Money donated to PACs will likely stay with the PAC who will use it for other purposes.
A campaign committee for a candidate at the federal level can give up to $2000 to another candidate’s campaign — this is the same limit that exists for any direct donation to a political campaign. This means that in your hypothetical, Clinton couldn’t “bequeath” the entirety of her funds to Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders or that Maryland governor whose name I always forget.
Other valid uses for unused campaign funds include:
[ul][li]A committee can give an unlimited amount of leftover money to charity.[/li][li] A committee can also give an unlimited amount of money to a party’s national committee. []The committee can be converted into a multi-candidate PAC and try to influence the election that way. [] And, of course, the committee could decide to return the funds.[/ul]The main thing that Must Be Avoided is “personal use” of campaign funds; in your hypothetical, Clinton couldn’t decide to keep the donated funds for herself.[/li]
The full FEC regulations are here (188-page PDF), if you’re interested. The section on what campaign funds can be used for, including uses that are not campaign-related, is from pp. 51–57; the note about conversion to a multi-candidate PAC is on p. 123.
Hookers and blow and a kick-ass concession party!