President Donald Trump has re-filed his lawsuit against Iowa pollster J. Ann Selzer and the Des Moines Register, accusing them of ‘brazen election interference’ in the 2024 Iowa presidential poll. The case, originally filed in federal court, was dismissed without prejudice and re-filed in state court after Trump’s legal team sought to avoid federal court review. The lawsuit alleges that the defendants manipulated a leaked and manipulated Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll to influence the outcome of the 2024 presidential election in favor of then-defeated Democrat candidate Kamala Harris. Trump and his co-plaintiffs, including Iowa Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and former Iowa State Senator Bradley Zaun, have dismissed their case in federal court but confirmed the lawsuit is ‘very much alive’ in state court. Legal representatives for Selzer and the Des Moines Register have criticized the move, calling it a transparent attempt to avoid federal court review. Both sides are prepared to defend their positions, with the case now pending in Polk County District Court.
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) chief counsel Bob Corn-Revere, who represents Selzer, also told Fox News Digital that no settlement has been reached regarding the lawsuit. He stated that the case has been dismissed in federal court but is ‘very much alive’ in state court. Corn-Revere criticized Trump’s legal team for their procedural maneuver, stating that the case was refiled one day before an Iowa law intended to provide strong protections against baseless claims like these — an “anti-SLAPP” statute — goes into effect. He emphasized that FIRE will defend Selzer’s First Amendment rights and expressed confidence that the courts will see through this sham lawsuit.
Lark-Marie Anton, a spokesperson for the Des Moines Register, was critical of Trump’s legal team, claiming he is only attempting to ‘avoid the inevitable outcome’ of his complaint being dismissed in court. Anton stated that after losing his first attempt to send his case back to Iowa state court, Trump is attempting to unilaterally dismiss his lawsuit from federal court and re-file it in Iowa state court. She noted that while such a maneuver is improper and may not be permitted by the court, it is clearly intended to avoid the inevitable outcome of the Des Moines Register’s motion to dismiss President Trump’s amended complaint currently pending in federal court.
The Des Moines Register will continue to resist President Trump’s litigation gamesmanship and believes that regardless of the forum it will be successful in defending its rights under the First Amendment. The lawsuit was originally filed in December in Polk County, Iowa and sought ‘accountability for brazen election interference committed by’ the Des Moines Register (DMR) and Selzer ‘in favor of now-defeated former Democrat candidate Kamala Harris through use of a leaked and manipulated Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll conducted by Selzer and S&C and published by DMR and Gannett in the Des Moines Register on Nov. 2, 2024.’
The Harris Poll was no ‘miss’ but rather an attempt to influence the outcome of the 2024 Presidential Election, the lawsuit stated, adding that ‘defendants and their cohorts in the Democrat Party hoped that the Harris Poll would create a false narrative of inevitability for Harris in the final week of the 2024 Presidential Election.’
Selzer released her final Des Moines Register-sponsored poll showing then-Vice President Kamala Harris leading Trump by three points in Iowa just three days before the election. That shock poll showed a seven-point shift from Trump to Harris from September, when he had a four-point lead over the vice president in the same poll. Selzer’s poll was hyped up by the media in the days leading up to the election as her polling predictions had been historically accurate. Many suggested it implied a monumental shift in Midwest support for the then-Vice President in a largely red state.
Trump ultimately beat Harris in Iowa by more than 13 percentage points. Shortly after the election, Selzer announced in an op-ed for the Des Moines Register that she was done with election polling and was moving on to ‘other ventures.’