The political action committee, Ready for Ron, led by former President Ronald Reagan’s political director went to federal court today to demand that the Federal Election Commission get out of their way in their efforts to convince Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis of running for the presidency in 2024. The PAC filed for a preliminary injunction in the U.S. District Court for Washington to get the FEC to speed up its decision on the legality of handing over a petition filled with around 110,000 names and contacts of people who want the governor to run. And while this process began back in July, with the group only reaching out to the FEC to make sure their actions were lawful, since mentioning their intentions the process has been anything but clear.

Dan Backer, a lawyer for the group, told Secrets that “the goal here is to sort of speed the ball along.” Hoping that the filing can get the slow-deciding FEC the green light they need in order to provide DeSantis with the contacts in hopes it encourages the governor to run in 2024.

The group believes that their work has really enhanced Governor DeSantis’s chances if he were to run. The group’s leader and former top Reagan advisor and political strategist, Ed Rollins says that after six months of work that the Ready for Ron group has accomplished, DeSantis has a growing lead in polls and easily won reelection in Florida’s gubernatorial race. DeSantis is also now the main potential rival against former President Trump in the 2024 primaries.

The FEC has taken such a stake in this situation since they deemed the material the PAC wants to send the governor as being “of value”. Though many are speculating that Democrats at the FEC are rolling out roadblocks to block the chance of DeSantis challenging Trump in the primaries. Backer had this on the matter,

“There’s no greater act of political speech than signing your name to a draft petition, and zero basis for saying Ready for Ron cannot give those names to the governor. We are confident we will prevail. We’ve beaten the FEC before and surely will again. We refuse to stand idly by allowing Biden Democrats to continue silencing public speech and threatening our Democracy.”