Karoline Leavitt’s 2022 congressional campaign is in debt more than $300,000, with money owed to over 100 creditors.

The White House press secretary’s former campaign repaid only five donors in 2025, two of whom are her parents

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt takes a question from a reporter outside the West Wing of the White House on February 13, 2025 in Washington, DC. Leavitt announced plans to swear in Robert F. Kennedy Jr., U.S. President Donald Trump's nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services, later today as the Senate appears poised to confirm him.

Karoline Leavitt’s 2022 congressional campaign is in debt more than $300,000, with money owed to over 100 creditors.

According to a disclosure filed with the Federal Election Commission on July 6, the current White House press secretary’s 2022 congressional campaign, Karoline for Congress, failed to repay any of its $326,370.50 debt. Leavitt’s campaign reported zero cash on hand at the end of the reporting period, which wrapped at the end of June.

Per Open Secrets, Leavitt’s campaign debt stems from illegal donations and contributions, in that they exceeded federal limits on monetary gifts to political campaigns, from individuals, political figures and political committees. As illegal contributions, the funds should have been returned — but the outlet reported that she and her campaign already spent the money.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks to reporters outside the West Wing at the White House on Thursday, Feb 06, 2025 in Washington, DC.

Notable contributors include former New Hampshire Gov. Craig Benson and former New Hampshire Senate Majority Leader Robert Clegg Jr. — who died in 2023 — as well as Leavitt’s parents, though NOTUS reported in April that the White House press secretary repaid them $2,900 each.

Significant donations include $46,747 from consultant Axiom Strategies, $41,000 from polling firm Remington Research Group and $12,815 from fundraising firm Fundraising, Inc.

This year, Leavitt’s campaign has only refunded five donors including her parents, per the disclosure and NOTUS.

Karoline Leavitt, White House press secretary, speaks during news conference in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, April 8, 2025

In November 2022, political action committee End Citizens United filed an FEC complaint against Karoline for Congress, accusing the campaign of violating campaign finance law. However, Open Secrets noted that the FEC has yet to issue a ruling on the case, and without the minimum number of commissioners (and who can only be nominated by the president), it cannot do so at this time.

It’s possible for the Department of Justice to insert itself into the case for it to proceed, yet as Attorney General Pam Bondi and Leavitt are both senior members of the Trump administration, it’s unlikely the case would proceed that way.