PolitiFact | Get the facts from tonight's Senate debate

The Poynter Institute

Get the facts from tonight's Senate debate

Virginia

Ed Gillespie, left, and Mark Warner will debate at 7 p.m.

Nancy Madsen

By Nancy Madsen October 13, 2014

PolitiFact Virginia is ready for the third and final U.S. Senate debate tonight between incumbent Mark Warner, a Democrat, and Republican Ed Gillespie.

We'll be live fact-checking the hour-long debate, scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Our tweets, from @PolitiFactVA will help viewers quickly discern when the candidates are telling the truth or twisting the facts.

The debate, organized by the League of Women Voters and AARP Virginia. It will be televised and streamed live by WCVE PBS, WTVR-TV, and C-SPAN. We suggest that you make it a two-screen affair: watch the live-streamed event and follow us on your Twitter feed.

And keep following us after the debate -- we’ll have new fact checks on this race up to Election Day on Nov. 4.

If there’s something you would like to see fact-checked, email us your suggestion.

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Read About Our Process

The Principles of the Truth-O-Meter

stated on November 22, 2014 a Facebook post.:

Graduation rates of players at major football colleges "are still twenty points below their male campus peers and worsened in the past three years."

half-true

half-true

stated on November 22, 2014 a Facebook post:

Only 20 colleges and universities "have athletic departments with revenue exceeding expenses."

true

true

stated on November 22, 2014 a Facebook post:

"We have a system now where in 40 states, the highest-paid public employee is the state university’s head football or basketball coach."

mostly-true

mostly-true

stated on December 2, 2014 a news release.:

"Bill Howell has been the consistent force behind every major tax increase in Virginia in the last decade."

mostly-true

mostly-true

stated on November 20, 2014 a news release.:

"Every president since Eisenhower has taken executive action to address immigration issues."

mostly-true

mostly-true

stated on November 12, 2014 a forum:

In rural Virginia, "Sen. Warner ran 8-10 points ahead of a traditional Democrat -- ahead of Senator Kaine, ahead of Governor McAuliffe."

false

false

stated on October 20, 2014 a TV ad.:

Dave Brat said "the best way to fix Social Security would be to give seniors back what they paid in and no more."

barely-true

barely-true

stated on October 28, 2014 a debate:

"In K-12 education, our kids are scoring at the bottom of science and mathematics right now in the industrialized world -- at the bottom."

false

false

stated on October 20, 2014 a TV ad.:

Ed Gillespie’s "firm even lobbied for five foreign governments, including a dictator now awaiting trial for war crimes."

half-true

half-true

stated on September 30, 2014 a TV ad.:

Says PolitiFact has ruled that Ed Gillespie’s ads are false and misleading.

half-true

half-true

National Rifle Association

stated on September 8, 2014 a mailer.:

Says Mark Warner "has supported restrictions on veterans’ second amendment rights."

mostly-true

mostly-true

Democratic Party of Virginia

stated on September 16, 2014 a news release.:

"Hospitals have already begun layoffs, a direct result of Republican inaction" on Medicaid expansion.

half-true

half-true

stated on September 29, 2014:

On opposing legislation that would take away existing health care plans.

half-flip

half-flip

stated on August 13, 2014 a newsletter.:

Virginia Democrats recently enforced voter ID rules that were "considerably more stringent than those contained in the state law they denounce."

half-true

half-true

stated on August 20, 2014 a tweet.:

Pinnacle Overlook in Southwest Virginia is "closer to eight other state capitals than to Richmond."

mostly-true

mostly-true

Republican State Leadership Committee
stated on March 26, 2020 in a campaign ad:

Says Jill Karofsky as a prosecutor “went easy on” a Madison man in a 1999 sexual assault case

By Eric Litke • March 27, 2020
Turning Point USA
stated on March 25, 2020 in a Facebook post:

Says Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak "has banned the use of an anti-malaria drug that might help cure coronavirus.”

By Daniel Funke • March 27, 2020
Donald Trump
stated on March 26, 2020 in a Hannity show interview:

Speaking of his restriction on travel from China, “I had (Joe) Biden calling me xenophobic. … He called me a racist, because of the fact that he felt it was a racist thing to stop people from China coming in.”

By Miriam Valverde • March 27, 2020
Facebook posts
stated on March 25, 2020 in a Facebook post:

Says to leave objects in the sun to avoid contracting the coronavirus.

By Tom Kertscher • March 27, 2020
Duey Stroebel
stated on March 24, 2020 in a tweet:

Says that under order from Gov. Tony Evers, he and his eight children can’t legally have dinner together anymore.

By Eric Litke • March 27, 2020
Bloggers
stated on February 28, 2020 in a news article:

“Swing State Hit With 2020 Voting Lawsuit - Accused Of Registering Over 1,500 Deceased People In Pennsylvania.”

By Jessica Calefati • March 27, 2020
Daniel Kelly
stated on March 8, 2020 in a TV interview:

Says a Marquette professor called him a "maverick" and found no correlation between his opinions and conservative background.

By Haley BeMiller • March 27, 2020
Facebook posts
stated on March 23, 2020 in a Facebook post:

Says the CDC now says that the coronavirus can survive on surfaces for up to 17 days.

By Samantha Putterman • March 26, 2020
Facebook posts
stated on March 20, 2020 in a Facebook post:

Says truck drivers are being turned away from fast-food restaurants during the COVID-19 pandemic.

By Samantha Putterman • March 26, 2020
John Cornyn
stated on March 18, 2020 in a press conference:

“China is to blame because the culture where people eat bats and snakes and dogs and things like that, these viruses are transmitted from the animal to the people and that's why China has been the source of a lot of these viruses like SARS, like MERS, the Swine Flu and now the coronavirus.”

By Madlin Mekelburg • March 26, 2020