Karoline Leavitt, Donald Trump’s presidential campaign press secretary and an outspoken fiscal hawk, has more than $100,000 in debt from her failed 2022 run for Congress, according to Raw Story’s review of Federal Election Commission records.
The filing by Karoline for Congress earlier this week shows the committee saddled with $105,605 in debt against $12,816 cash on hand as of June 30.
Leavitt ran for Congress at age 25 — the Constitutional minimum for members of the U.S. House of Representatives — and lost by 8 percentage points to Democrat Chris Pappas in New Hampshire’s 1st District.
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Trump had celebrated Leavitt’s victory in the Republican primary on social media and predicted “an even greater victory” in the general election.
Instead, Leavitt exited the race with a defeat — and a list of creditors.
The two largest creditors have the same Kansas City address:
• Axiom Strategies, which is owed $46,747 is owed for consulting, printing, and travel.
• Remington Research Group, which is owed $31,000 for polling.
Two other creditors also have the same Kansas City address: Cannon Research Group, which is owed $7,000 for polling, and Ax Media, which is owed $1,471 for a media buy and travel.
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The other creditors are Fundraising Inc., owed $12,815 for its “fundraising commission”; Olympic Media, owed $6,052 for print advertising; and Ax Capital, owed $518 for “compliance” — often shorthand for campaign finance legal services.
By law, Leavitt's campaign committee — but not Leavitt personally — is legally responsible for these debts. Her congressional committee may not officially shut down until it settles the debts.
Fiscal hawk?
During her brief time in politics, Leavitt has fashioned herself an economic conservative who preaches fiscal responsibility.
Leavitt last month slammed President Joe Biden for “out of control spending” that has “created the worst inflation crisis in generations.”
In 2023, she advocated diverting $100 billion in spending on Ukraine to “pay off the [national] debt so our Generation isn't stuck drowning in it.”
As a congressional candidate in 2022, she bashed Biden’s student loan cancelation plan, tweeting: “Let’s be honest — the debt will not be “cancelled. It’s going to be transferred to millions of hardworking people.”
In 2021, Leavitt tweeted that the government should “abolish the Department of Education & don’t raise the debt ceiling unless SIGNIFICANT fiscal reforms are made.”
The Trump presidential campaign did not immediately respond to Raw Story’s request for comment.
Leavitt’s campaign treasurer, Robert Phillips III, did not immediately respond to Raw Story’s request for comment. Phillips is listed as company president on Axiom’s website.
Remington Research Group did not immediately respond to Raw Story’s question about whether the company expects to be paid in full by Karoline for Congress.
Leavitt made news before last week’s presidential debate when CNN host Kasie Hunt abruptly ended a live interview with her after she repeatedly attacked debate moderators Jake Tapper and Dana Bash of CNN as biased.
Leavitt said this week that Jill Biden should be accountable for “elder abuse” for allowing Joe Biden to continue his presidential campaign after his poor performance in the debate.
