U.S. presidents have little control over the price that consumers pay for gasoline. It depends mostly on the price of crude oil, which is set on the global market, based largely on worldwide supply and demand. Yet Republican campaign ads have falsely claimed or suggested that President Joe Biden and Democrats are solely to blame for the prices that motorists are paying at the pump.
The overall increase in fentanyl seized at the southwest border under President Joe Biden is nowhere near as high as a Republican ad misleadingly claims. U.S. border officials seized 13,021 pounds of the drug in Biden’s first full 15 months in office, which is 70% more than the 7,677 pounds seized in Donald Trump’s last full 15 months as president.
Democrat Cheri Beasley’s record in North Carolina Supreme Court cases involving violent crime is the subject of competing TV ads in the state’s U.S. Senate race. But neither ad gives viewers all of the necessary context for the claims portraying Beasley, a former state chief justice, as either weak or tough on crime.
A TV ad from a Republican group accuses the Democratic candidates in Georgia’s two Senate runoff elections of having “radically dangerous” ideas on the criminal justice system and the environment. But there’s more to their positions than what the ad suggests.
Republican ads aimed at Facebook users in Montana make the unsubstantiated claim that Gov. Steve Bullock “steered 14.3 million Montana dollars to his brother’s company.”
A Republican TV ad strongly implies — without proof — that former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper accepted donations in exchange for not penalizing an oil and gas company involved in a fatal home explosion in 2017.
A Republican TV ad accuses Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri of profiting from “a corrupt Washington subsidy.” But the claims are not supported by the facts.
A misleading Republican attack ad accuses Nevada’s Democratic candidate for Senate of putting “deadly drunk drivers back on the roads.” She didn’t.
An ad from the National Republican Senatorial Committee continues the relentless effort to tie Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu to President Barack Obama, who is not very popular in Louisiana. But the ad stretches the facts on several points.
In Iowa, a Republican ad claims that Democratic Senate nominee Bruce Braley “voted to raise taxes on every single Iowa taxpayer.” That badly distorts Braley’s clearly stated position.