Hold onto your hats, folks—President Donald Trump just notched another legal victory in a battle over what his team calls blatant election meddling in Iowa.
This saga centers on a lawsuit against Iowa pollster J. Ann Selzer and The Des Moines Register, alleging fraudulent polling that painted Trump as trailing Kamala Harris just days before he crushed it in Iowa with a double-digit win, Fox News reported.
Let’s rewind to the beginning: a poll by Selzer, released a mere three days before the election, showed Trump down by three points to Harris in Iowa—a state he’s carried three times in a row.
Compare that to a September survey from the same source, which had Trump ahead by four points, and you’ve got a eyebrow-raising seven-point swing that smelled fishy to many.
The media lapped it up, hyping the poll as a historic signal of Midwest momentum shifting toward Harris—only for the actual results to reveal Trump winning by over 13 points, the first double-digit victory in Iowa since 1980.
Trump’s legal team didn’t hold back, accusing Selzer and The Des Moines Register of “brazen election interference” with a poll they claim was designed to undermine his campaign in the final stretch.
Initially, Trump pushed to have the case heard in Iowa State Court, but the defendants shifted it to federal court, where a judge denied his request to move it back.
Enter the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit, which overruled that decision on Friday, denying Selzer’s appeal and sending the lawsuit right back to state court as Trump wanted.
The 8th Circuit even granted Trump’s petition for a writ of mandamus earlier, instructing a district judge to dismiss the federal case without prejudice, paving the way for a state court refiling.
The defendants tried for further relief with the 8th Circuit, but their petition was shot down, leaving them to face the music in Iowa’s state system.
Polly Grunfeld Sack, USA TODAY Co. Chief Legal Officer, wasn’t shy in her response: “Although we are disappointed that the appellate court has allowed President Trump to avoid the inevitable dismissal of his complaint in Federal Court, running away to state court will not change the outcome of this meritless case.”
Well, Polly, that’s a bold prediction, but let’s see if Iowa’s courts agree—after all, dismissing a case tied to a poll so wildly off the mark might not be the slam dunk you think in a state that clearly backed Trump.
A spokesman for Trump’s legal team fired back with equal vigor: “President Trump is committed to holding those who traffic in deception and fake news to account. The Des Moines Register and Gannett knowingly ran a phony poll from the now disgraced Democrat pollster Ann Selzer in an underhanded attempt to interfere in the election and defraud the country into believing Kamala Harris was winning the state of Iowa and nationwide, mere hours before she lost Iowa and the overall election by an overwhelming margin to President Trump.”
That’s a hefty charge, and while some might scoff at the “fake news” label, a poll this far off does raise questions about whether it was more about narrative than numbers—something conservatives have long warned against in media-driven agendas.
Meanwhile, Selzer herself has stepped away, announcing her retirement from election polling to chase “other ventures” shortly after the election, leaving many to wonder if this lawsuit played a role in her exit. It’s hard not to see this as a quiet admission that something went awry, even if no one’s saying it out loud.
