A political action committee attempting to draft Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to run for president in 2024 on Wednesday filed for a preliminary injunction in federal court to pressure the Federal Election Commission into speeding up its decision on providing DeSantis with a petition filled with about 110,000 names and contacts of people who want him to make a bid for the White House, reports the Washington Examiner.
The FEC in September said providing the petition while DeSantis is "testing the waters" for a presidential run or after he becomes a candidate would violate a campaign-contribution limit because of the value of the information. It also said Ready for Run, based out of Florida and led by former President Ronald Reagan's political director, would violate a $2,900 contribution limit if it provided the petition with names and contact information of people who signed it.
The PAC in November sued the FEC, accusing the agency of taking federal campaign law to an unconstitutional extreme.
"A signed political petition is pure political speech," the 42-page lawsuit read. "The federal government may neither prevent a draft committee from soliciting and gathering signatories' names and contact information to attempt to persuade someone to run for office or remain a candidate for office, nor bar a potential candidate's supporters from associating together to express their political support for that person by providing their names and contact information."
DeSantis, who won reelection for governor in Florida by a wide margin, hasn't shown signs he is ready to officially announce his candidacy for president and has said he is focused on being governor.