In a legal triumph that’s got the political world buzzing, President Donald Trump has notched a win against Iowa pollster J. Ann Selzer and The Des Moines Register, with a federal appeals court ruling to send his case to the Iowa state court.
This decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit overturns a lower court’s ruling and allows Trump to pursue his claims of election interference tied to a controversial poll in a venue he believes is more fitting.
The saga began in December when Trump’s legal team filed the lawsuit in Polk County, Iowa, targeting Selzer and The Des Moines Register over a poll they claim was manipulated to favor Kamala Harris.
According to the lawsuit, the poll, published just days before the 2024 election, showed Harris leading Trump by three points in Iowa—a stark seven-point swing from a September survey where Trump held a four-point edge.
Despite the media’s pre-election hype over Selzer’s historically accurate predictions, suggesting a Midwest shift toward Harris, the results proved wildly off-base as Trump ultimately clinched Iowa by over 13 percentage points.
That double-digit victory, the first of its kind in Iowa since 1980, left many questioning the poll’s intent, with Trump’s team alleging it was a deliberate attempt to sway voters.
Initially, Trump’s request to keep the case in state court was rebuffed by a federal judge appointed by Obama, after the defendants moved the case to federal jurisdiction.
Undeterred, Trump’s legal team pushed back, and on Friday, the 8th Circuit sided with them, issuing a rare writ of mandamus to correct what they saw as a clear legal misstep.
The appeals court instructed a district judge to dismiss the federal case without prejudice, clearing the path for Trump to refile in the Iowa state court, where he believes justice will be better served.
A spokesman for Trump’s legal team didn’t hold back, declaring, “Today’s just and appropriate ruling by the 8th Circuit ensures that President Trump’s powerhouse case focused on the fake election interfering polls conducted and denominated by J. Ann Selzer, The Des Moines Register and its corporate owner Gannett will be litigated in Iowa State Court where it belongs,” as told to Fox News Digital.
While the victory is procedural, not substantive, it’s a feather in Trump’s cap—proof that persistence against what his team calls “unlawful gamesmanship” can pay off in the legal arena.
On the other side, Bob Corn-Revere, chief counsel for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, representing Selzer, downplayed the ruling, stating, “The 8th Circuit ruling was focused entirely on a technical point of civil procedure and said nothing about the merits of the case,” as told to Fox News Digital.
Technical or not, the shift to state court could change the dynamics of a case that’s already stirred debate over polling ethics and media influence in tight electoral races.
Meanwhile, Lark-Marie Antón, speaking for Gannett, The Des Moines Register’s parent company, expressed confidence in a fair outcome regardless of venue, though they still prefer federal court for a case involving the president.
