Despite Sen. Frank Lautenberg having been dead for 13 years, his Senate campaign committee carried on until this past Sunday.
Lautenberg for Senate filed termination paperwork with the Federal Election Commission, listing a distribution of about $87,000 in residual funds that had been left in the account. The FEC hasn’t confirmed whether or not it has accepted the closure yet.
The usual protocol for leftover money in federal political campaigns is that it is used for closure costs like paying staff for their remaining time, logistics and administrative costs, and accounting and legal services. After that, the committee can donate to charities or give it up to the U.S. Treasury’s general fund.
But some committees with deceased political leaders have opted to either keep it for personal use, which is strictly prohibited, or simply sit on the cash.
Most of the leftover money, about $58,000, went to the Lautenberg Foundation, which is a private, tax-exempt nonprofit that gives grants to other nonprofits such as Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Planned Parenthood, George Washington University, Colgate University, Anti-Defamation League, Friends of the Israel Defense Forces, and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, according to the IRS.
Lautenberg for Senate filed a memo to the Federal Election Commission, saying the nonprofit qualifies as a “charitable organization” and “no family members receive compensation from the foundation.”
The estimated remaining $29,000 appears to have gone to legal and consulting fees.
The Daily Beast reached out to the committee’s final treasurer, Peter D. Nichols, and the FEC for comment.
At the time of his death, the New Jersey Democrat was the oldest serving member of the U.S. Senate and the last remaining World War II veteran in the chamber. He battled stomach cancer in 2010 and returned to work after treatment.
Lautenberg died after contracting viral pneumonia in 2013 at the age of 89 during his fifth Senate term, which he intended to be his last one.
But his “zombie campaign” didn’t start tying up loose ends until around April 2026, according to The Washington Sun. Those loose ends include Lautenberg’s personal $1.09 million loan to his old campaign, which the committee never paid back.
Other campaigns have drawn scrutiny over leftover donations. Former House Speaker Tom Foley’s campaign committee is still active and earning investment income from Microsoft and Meta despite the politician’s death over a decade ago.
A NOTUS investigation found that Rep. Sylvester Turner’s committee paid thousands of dollars toward funeral-related travel, lodging, and security, while Rep. Alcee Hastings’ committee paid more than $29,000 to his stepdaughter and widow after his death.
The investigation, however, didn’t establish that the FEC had ruled them unlawful.
