Who Pays for Security When Presidential Candidates Come to Town?
It depends on who is being protected and where, and if the FEC approves the expense
By Denise Rivette
An article published today by the Daily Montanan, When Trump Comes, to Town He Brings Excitement, Leaves Unpaid Bills, reports that, “According to a 2019 report from the Center for Public Integrity (CIP), Trump owed more than $840,000 to various city governments, and likely more, as Trump’s campaign does not acknowledge a single one of these city governments as debt in his federal campaign financial disclosures.” A 2020 report from CIP increased that amount to “$1.82 million worth of public safety-related debt connected to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign rallies.”
In March of this year, Spectrum News reported that the Federal Election Commission (FEC) “proposed a new rule that would allow candidates seeking federal office to use campaign funds to pay for security as threats against politicians have risen in recent years.” It went on to state, “Previously, the FEC has interpreted existing rules as allowing campaigns to use funds for security on an individual basis, but campaigns needed to ask the commission for permission each time. Now, if the rule is approved, campaigns would be explicitly granted permission under federal law to use donor dollars on security for candidates and their families.” The FEC is still working on those rules according to this FEC press release dated July 17, 2024.
Some jurisdictions send an invoice for the additional costs of providing security, while others just absorb the cost in their budgets. As further reported in the Daily Montanan article:
“In Billings, the protective measures put in place for his September 2018 rally resulted in 1,362 overtime hours between Billings PD and the Yellowstone County Sheriff’s office: 951 hours from the former, and 411 hours from the latter, bringing the total cost to $58,830.
While the Yellowstone Sheriff’s office did not bill Trump’s campaign for the $12,930 cost it incurred – a standard practice the office follows for all political campaigns – Billings PD did, and as of the publication date of this article, that $45,900 bill has been left unpaid.”
But Trump is not alone in not paying for security costs. In 2019, CBS News in Minneapolis reported that Bernie Sanders owed cities $449,409 for police security and public costs and that Democrat Kamala Harris incurred $187,327 in public costs in January, but missed payment deadlines in April of that year. Her campaign later reported they had paid that cost in full.
Other candidates from both parties promptly pay their security bills according to that same CBS reporting. “Minnesota Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar paid Minneapolis in full after she announced her presidential campaign in a snowstorm in February.” “And Republican Senator Ted Cruz in 2016 had a reputation for always paying city bills -- on time and in full.”