DeSantis campaign and aligned super PAC hit with FEC complaint over alleged coordination

Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R-FL) presidential campaign and his aligned super PAC were the target of a complaint to the Federal Election Commission alleging illegal cooperation between the two.

The Campaign Legal Center, a nonprofit watchdog, filed the complaint. The filing alleged that DeSantis’s campaign and the Never Back Down Super PAC have illegally coordinated their efforts, violating campaign finance law.

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“Ron DeSantis, a 2024 presidential candidate, has illegally coordinated with Never Back Down, Inc. … by directly or indirectly providing requests, suggestions, and guidance regarding the super PAC’s messaging in support of his candidacy,” it read.

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“Moreover, Never PAC has for months coordinated its activities with and made in-kind contributions to DeSantis and his campaign committee, contravening the explicit legal requirement that super PACs must remain ‘independent’ of—i.e., not coordinate with or make contributions to—federal candidates or their campaigns. As a result, there is reason to believe Never PAC has made, and DeSantis and his campaign have knowingly accepted, prohibited contributions in violation of the Federal Election Campaign Act,” it said.

The complaint went a step further by claiming nefarious actions on the part of DeSantis and the super PAC, saying it was a way for corporations to take away the democratic voice of voters.

“By accepting corporate money and providing coordinated or in-kind contributions to DeSantis’s campaign, Never PAC has also effectively acted as a vehicle for corporations to contribute to and underwrite DeSantis’s campaign, circumventing FECA’s prohibition of corporate contributions to candidates and, moreover, depriving the public of complete and accurate information regarding the sources of funding for DeSantis’s campaign,” it read.

DeSantis’s campaign brushed off the complaint as a partisan hit job.

“This baseless complaint is just another example of how the Left is terrified of Ron DeSantis and will stoop to anything to stop him. The FEC has made clear they won’t take action based upon unverified rumors and innuendo, and that’s the false information this politically motivated complaint is based on. The Left has tried to stop DeSantis in the past and failed, and they will fail again this time,” DeSantis campaign spokesman Andrew Romeo told NBC News in a statement.

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The potential legal battle represents another controversy DeSantis’s campaign finds itself in, with Never Back Down’s head abruptly resigning days earlier.

Despite a strong start, DeSantis has been struggling in the 2024 presidential primary, not only failing to catch up to the Republican front-runner, former President Donald Trump, but also losing ground to former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley.