DeSantis: Media Interfered in Iowa Caucuses

The Iowa caucuses began at 7pm local time. The AP and other major outlets called the race about 30 minutes later—so quickly that many caucuses participants had yet to cast their ballots, reports Politico. And given the ubiquity of smartphones and news alerts, it's likely that word spread quickly among those same caucus-goers. The campaign of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is livid, with spokesperson Andrew Romeo calling it a case of "election interference" by the press, per the Hill. "The media is in the tank for Trump and this is the most egregious example yet," he tweeted. Some journalists were also questioning the decision.

"The very very early results show Trump winning big, but the early network call is a little questionable," tweeted David Weigel of Semafor. "People are still at caucus sites, and they have phones—how many people see the call and bail?" DeSantis was locked in a tight race for second place with Nikki Haley—the New York Times had him at 20% and Haley at 19%, behind Trump at 51%, though with only 37% of the results in. Outlets typically wait for all the polls to close in a particular state before calling it, but the Iowa caucuses are so unusual that the same principles apparently don't apply. Some precincts report results in minutes, and some take hours, per the Des Moines Register. (More Iowa caucuses stories.)