Labour activists campaigning for Kamala Harris in US ‘likely to break electoral law’

Campaign donation rules could be breached if travel expenses of a volunteer exceed $1,000

Labour activists who travel to the US to campaign for the Democrats are likely to break electoral law, The Telegraph understands.
Party staff have organised a trip for around 100 activists to campaign for Kamala Harris in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Nevada and Virginia ahead of polling day on Nov 5.
However, The Telegraph understands that current and former Labour employees who make the trip are at risk of criminal prosecution and fines, under strict rules to prevent foreign interference in elections.
Under federal election law, foreign citizens can campaign in the US, providing they are not paid and have no influence on decision-making by party operatives.
However, an election lawyer has warned that it is likely they would breach a separate law on campaign donations.
Under the federal law, the travel expenses of a volunteer are considered a donation to the party they work for if they exceed $1,000 (£770) in one election.
Lawrence Otter, a constitutional and electoral law expert, said the Harris campaign and any activist who spends more than $1,000 on the trip could end up with a “substantial” fine by the Federal Elections Commission (FEC).
“The cost of getting here by air, if it is less than $1,000 it would be okay, but anything more than that it becomes very problematic in my opinion,” he told The Telegraph.
“The Harris campaign certainly has to know there is a cost of getting here from England, but once you get beyond $1,000, it becomes an issue.
“I think the campaign could be sanctioned, probably through a fine, which could be substantial.”
The Telegraph understands that Labour staff have been instructed to pay for their own flights to the US and car hire, while Democrat volunteers are set to provide accommodation.
A flight from London to Washington DC, where activists – some of whom are believed to have already arrived in the US – are thought to be travelling first, costs around $800. 
Car hire in the two weeks before election day in Pennsylvania costs around $400.
An activist flying to Nevada would likely spend another $150 on internal travel once they arrived in the US.
The FEC’s guidelines state that any foreign individual who makes a financial contribution can be fined.
In 2022, the watchdog issued a fine of $975,000 to Barry Zekelman, the Canadian businessman, who donated to the Trump-aligned PAC America First Action.
Any campaigning by Labour employees could also be subject to legal action by the Trump campaign.
News of the plans drew criticism on Thursday from Republicans, who said it amounted to foreign interference by Labour and warned it could damage transatlantic relations if Donald Trump wins back the White House.
Elon Musk, the Tesla and SpaceX billionaire who supports Trump, said on Thursday that the plans were “illegal”.
Marjorie Taylor Greene, a firebrand Republican congresswoman, said: “Foreign nationals are not allowed to be involved in any way in US elections.
“Please go back to the UK and fix your own mass immigration problems that are ruining your country.”
Sebastian Gorka, a former aide in Trump’s White House, told The Telegraph the “bloody outrageous” plans amounted to “complete interference in American politics and an incredible show of desperation by the Kamala campaign”.
Tom Cotton, a Republican senator, added that Labour campaigning for Harris was “yet another reason to vote for president Trump”.