DeSantis Campaign Calls Out Media For Seemingly Breaking Own Policies By Calling Iowa Before Voting Ends
AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall
Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis’ campaign accused the media of “election interference” on Monday after several news outlets seemingly broke their own editorial policies by calling the Iowa caucus for former President Donald Trump before polls had closed.
Just 30 minutes in and with 1% of votes counted, CNN called the caucus for Trump. Others, including Fox News, Associated Press (AP), and CBS News quickly followed.
“Absolutely outrageous that the media would participate in election interference by calling the race before tens of thousands of Iowans even had a chance to vote,” protested DeSantis staffer Andrew Romeo. “The media is in the tank for Trump and this is the most egregious example yet.”
Matt Wolking, strategic communications director for the pro-DeSantis Never Back Down super PAC, called out CNN on social media for seemingly breaking its editorial policy on the matter.
“CNN called Trump the winner of Iowa at 8:30 PM ET, before most of the state had even started voting,” wrote Wolking, before quoting a 2008 CNN article which stated that “CNN editorial policy strictly prohibits reporting winners or characterizing the outcome of a statewide contest in any state before all the polls are scheduled to close in every precinct in that state.”
Wolking also shared posts from others, including Washington Post national political reporter Michael Scherer, which criticized AP for doing the same.
“AP has a policy not to call ‘the winner of a race before all the polls in a jurisdiction are scheduled to close.’ Tonight AP/CNN/Etc. called the race after the caucus doors closed, but BEFORE all votes were cast,” Scherer tweeted. “People could see on their phones that Trump won before voting.”
Semafor’s David Weigel also criticized “the early network call,” calling the decision “a little questionable.”
“People are still at caucus sites, and they have phones – how many people see the call and bail?” he questioned.
As of reporting, with 40% of votes counted, Trump is leading in Iowa at 52.5% and with more than 27,000 votes, while DeSantis is second at 20% and nearly 10,500 votes.
