Category: Exclusive

Conservative commentator Larry Elder says he’s suing the Republican National Committee (RNC) after being left off the debate stage in Milwaukee. The National Pulse can reveal that the dispute surrounding his eligibility stems from a Rasmussen Reports poll published Monday, August 21st, which ostensibly gives Elder the one percent he needs to cross the eligibility threshold. Elder says he already surpassed the other requirements, including having over 40,000 donors across dozens of states.

But the RNC says the poll cannot be factored in, not because it came from Rasmussen – a pollster with an excellent track record – but rather because the organization which sponsored the survey – the anti-Soros ‘Enforce The Law PAC’ – is run by Eric Branstad, who has previously and recently worked with both Team Trump and Team Elder.

The Rules.

The RNC’s rules on recognized data suggests, amongst other criteria, that polls must “[n]ot be a conducted by a polling company affiliated with a candidate or candidate committee.”

Rasmussen – the “polling company” – is not affiliated with a candidate or candidate committee, and nor is Enforce The Law PAC. But RNC sources told The National Pulse on Tuesday that Branstad’s now updated LinkedIn page showed him still listed as a Save America PAC (Trump Team) advisor as of Tuesday, August 22nd.

Branstad’s work was also highlighted by the RNC source, who showed his other firm – Matchpoint Strategies – consulted for both ‘Elder for America’ and ‘Donald J. Trump for President 2024, Inc’ as recently as Q1 of 2023.

Regardless, neither Enforce The Law nor Matchpoint were the “polling company” per the RNC’s own stated rules, though the words “affiliated with” may be doing some heavy lifting when considering most modern polling is sponsored in some way by news organizations, political or pressure groups.

Elder posted a statement Tuesday that said: “The reason, as stated by the RNC, is that Rasmussen Polls have ties to former President Donald Trump – an individual who is not even participating in the upcoming debate. Larry Elder has no knowledge about whether Donald Trump has ever worked with Rasmussen previously.”

Branstad has worked with various groups and candidates, which should not preclude one of his non-candidate group’s sponsored polls – even if he’s previously consulted for Elder or Trump. On the other hand, the RNC rules as written are vulnerable to questions of technicality – leading to situations where the spirit of the rules are not adhered to, while the letter of the law technically is.

“The RNC worked over two years to deliver a transparent and fair primary process that will put our eventual nominee in the best position to beat Biden. Criteria to qualify for the first debate was clearly presented to campaigns and RNC leadership and members of the debate committee were in constant communication with candidates and campaigns throughout the qualifying period,” RNC Spokesperson Keith Schipper said on Tuesday.

An Elder campaign spokesman told The National Pulse: “The RNC clearly decided that they only wanted 8 candidates at the debate, and broke their own poorly written rules in an attempt to justify throwing Larry off the stage because he opposes the corrupt RNC establishment. The lazy reasoning for their decision has been thoroughly debunked and yet they refuse to do the right thing, as per usual.”