DES MOINES, Iowa (Iowa Capital Dispatch) – President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against the Des Moines Register, its parent company Gannett and pollster J. Ann Selzer will head from federal court to state court in Iowa, a positive development for the president in the proceedings.
The lawsuit was filed in December 2024 after Trump’s victory in the general election. It challenges the Des Moines Register and Selzer, who conducted the Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll, for publishing a poll in the days before the Nov. 5, 2024, election that found Vice President Kamala Harris leading among likely Iowa voters.
The lawsuit claimed the poll amounted to “fraud and election interference,” saying it had intentionally overrepresented support for Harris in violation of the Iowa Consumer Fraud Act. But attorneys representing the defendants denied these claims and the case was transferred to federal court at their request.
However, Trump’s legal team objected to the case going through the federal court system, as the lawsuit had been expanded to include U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and former Republican state Sen. Brad Zaun — both based in Iowa – as plaintiffs.
In May 2025, U.S. District Judge Rebecca Goodgame Ebinger denied the president’s motion to remand the case from federal court back to state court, allowing Trump to file an appeal on the issue but ordering him to fine an amended complaint without Miller-Meeks and Zaun involved in the case.
But on Friday, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit overruled this decision, granting Trump’s petition for a writ of mandamus, used to correct legal errors, and calling for the district court to “vacate its order striking the notice of voluntary dismissal and treat the case as dismissed without prejudice.”
This decision may allow Trump’s case, refiled June 30 in Iowa, to proceed, as it had not advanced due to challenges about the pending federal case.
In a statement, Lark-Marie Anton, Gannett spokesperson, said the company is “assessing the court’s decision.”
“Given the nature of the case and that it involves the president of the United States as a plaintiff, we continue to believe the federal courts are the most appropriate forum for this lawsuit,” Anton said. “In the event the suit is heard by the state courts of Iowa, we have confidence the matter will be adjudicated fairly.”
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, or FIRE, representing Selzer in the lawsuit, has labeled the legal challenge as a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation, or SLAPP lawsuit attempting to suppress free speech or press by engaging a defendant in a lengthy, expensive legal battle, even while knowing they may not win in court. While Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a measure into law this year allowing courts to to grant expedited relief in cases involving First Amendment rights to address SLAPP lawsuits, the law includes a caveat that these legal protections cannot be filed retroactively — meaning Trump’s refiled case in Iowa would not be subject to the law.
Copyright 2025 Iowa Capital Dispatch. All rights reserved.