Of course, there are reasons unrelated to lobbying for maintaining candidate committees. A former officeholder may be mulling over a return to politics. The former candidate may want to refund campaign donors. Or there may be campaign debts to pay including loans and obligations from the candidate to his or her own campaign. The Federal Election Commission prohibits a candidate from terminating his or her campaign committee if the committee owes any debts or obligations.
Former candidates have limited options on what to do with unspent funds.
Many maintain their candidate committees and direct the lion s share of expenditures toward current candidates.