The Virginia governor’s race has been neck and neck, according to the polls — and the Pinocchio count. This election cycle, we’ve awarded Pinocchios to both candidates six times each. Democrat Terry McAuliffe, a former governor seeking his job back, ended up with an average Pinocchio rating of 3.5. But his Republican rival, former equity investor Glenn Youngkin, was not far behind with an average rating of 3.2 Pinocchios.
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Given staff and time constraints — and the need to keep fact-checking statements made by President Biden and leaders in both political parties — we obviously could not vet every possible claim made by the candidates in the Virginia race. There’s at least one fact check we wished we had done, but there are many more that we are sure we missed.
As a reader guide, here’s a summary of our fact checks with links to the full columns in the headlines, in the order in which they appeared.
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McAuliffe doubles down on false budget claim that has been fact-checked three times
As the campaign started, McAuliffe touted his economic record by frequently claiming that he inherited the largest budget deficit in Virginia’s history from his GOP predecessor. Not only was that a false claim, but it has been fact-checked three times in 2015 and 2019. McAuliffe earned Four Pinocchios.
An ad posted to Terry McAuliffe’s official YouTube page June 17, misrepresented comments made by Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin in 2017. (Adriana Usero/The Washington Post)
McAuliffe ad slices and dices Youngkin’s comments in a misleading way
The McAuliffe campaign posted a video that claimed that before Youngkin entered politics “he was a big fan of Terry McAuliffe and his record as governor.”
But when we examined the source material, a somewhat dry April 2017 panel discussion, it turned out the campaign had snipped and clipped it to mislead viewers. Youngkin was merely a moderator at the business panel, making benign comments and offering no indication that he was a “big fan” of McAuliffe. The McAuliffe campaign earned Three Pinocchios.
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Youngkin wrongly claims ‘every single state’ has earned disappointing cannabis revenue
On July 1, marijuana possession in small amounts became legal in Virginia, with government-regulated commercial sales of cannabis due to begin exactly three years later. Youngkin, a marijuana skeptic, argued that marijuana sales have not worked in states such as Colorado, Oregon and California — and he wrongly claimed that “every single state” had been disappointed in the economics of legal marijuana. In reality, many states have exceeded their revenue projections for legal marijuana sales, even ones that faced initial disappointment such as California. He earned Three Pinocchios.
Youngkin’s claims about Virginia crime rates under McAuliffe
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Youngkin repeatedly said that during McAuliffe’s governorship, the murder rate went up 43 percent and the rape rate went up every year. Both of Youngkin’s claims are technically accurate but missing context, showing how a carefully scripted talking point can obscure the overall crime situation in a state.
When looking at all classes of violent crimes — including robbery and aggravated assault — Virginia was one of the safest states in the country during McAuliffe’s governorship. The state’s violent crime rate was about half the rate for the entire United States. Youngkin earned Two Pinocchios.
An ad posted by Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe on Sept. 1, misrepresents comments made by Republican Glenn Youngkin on abortion. (Adriana Usero/The Washington Post)
McAuliffe’s claim that Youngkin ‘wants to ban abortion’
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McAuliffe milked remarks made by Youngkin to a liberal activist who posed as an antiabortion advocate and then recorded the conversation. During the conversation, Youngkin appeared to indicate sympathy for the antiabortion stance but noted that he had to keep his powder dry during election season to “win my independent votes.”
Youngkin has made clear that he is against abortion and would support rolling back abortion expansions made by Democrats in recent years. He has made clear he is against taxpayer money for abortions and is not a supporter of Planned Parenthood. He has even indicated support for a bill that would restrict abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. But it’s a leap to say that he affirmatively said he would ban abortions, including by supporting a version of Texas’s six-week law, or would defund Planned Parenthood.
McAuliffe earned two Pinocchios.
Youngkin campaign targets McAuliffe’s parole record through dubious links
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Youngkin aired an emotional ad that sought to tie McAuliffe to a controversy concerning the Virginia Parole Board. But the star of the ad, former Richmond police officer Cheryl Nici, was an imperfect vehicle to claim that members of the board appointed by McAuliffe undermined the state’s standards. The parole board has refused every opportunity to let her shooter, a convicted killer, go free. The ad does not explain that, and some viewers might get the impression that the parole board acted against Nici’s interests.
The Youngkin campaign earned Two Pinocchios.
Fact-checking the second McAuliffe-Youngkin gubernatorial debate
This was a roundup of claims made during the second and final debate, and no Pinocchios were awarded. The subjects covered included abortion, Youngkin’s business background and education policies.
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McAuliffe ad falsely claims Youngkin ‘took over’ predatory dental clinics
We looked deeper at a statement made by McAuliffe during the debate and in a campaign ad — that as chief operating officer of the private equity firm Carlyle Group, Youngkin took over a chain of dental clinics that harmed children.
On just about every level, the claim is flat-out false. Digging through corporate documents, we discovered that not only was Youngkin not part of the original transaction, but Carlyle did not own or manage the clinics; it merely helped fund the deal with loans. After problems at the clinics were exposed and the company failed to make good on its loans, in 2010 (before Youngkin became chief operating officer), the loans were renegotiated to give Carlyle a relatively small equity stake.
McAuliffe earned Four Pinocchios.
Youngkin’s false claim that McAuliffe ‘opposes’ election audits
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Youngkin came under fire for saying he wanted to “audit the voting machines” — appearing to align himself with false election claims by former president Donald Trump. A political action committee associated with Trump even sent an email headlined: “ICYMI: ‘Youngkin calls for audit of voting machines in Virginia.’ ” But Virginia already has a regular “risk-limiting” audit of election results, which examine a sample of ballots to check for statistical anomalies. The results of the 2020 audit were released March 31, and they confirmed an accurate count.
In a tweet, Youngkin tried to turn the tables and say that McAuliffe would “end Virginia’s routine election audits” and “opposes audits.” But that claim was a fabrication, without any foundation, and so Youngkin earned Four Pinocchios.
Youngkin, McAuliffe target each other with false attack ads
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Both candidates individually earned Four Pinocchios for airing ads that suggested they were quoting independent reports but instead relied on partisan analyses that assumed the worst.
Youngkin’s ad claimed that McAuliffe’s policy proposals would raise the taxes of Virginia families by $5,400. This number was spun out of a right-leaning news report that relied on an analysis by a conservative think tank. But McAuliffe has ruled out raising taxes to implement his policies.
Meanwhile, McAuliffe offered an ad that was almost a mirror image. While McAuliffe has highlighted his spending plans, Youngkin has emphasized how he wants to cut taxes. So McAuliffe also seized on dubious reports, this time from left-wing organizations, to claim how Youngkin’s tax-cut proposals would leave Virginia so revenue-poor that education cuts would be necessary.
The false GOP claim that the Justice Department is spying on parents at school board meetings
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Youngkin joined other Republicans in falsely asserting that “the FBI is trying to silence parents.” The claim stemmed from a memorandum issued by Attorney General Merrick Garland that, after a spike in threats directed at public school officials, called on the FBI and federal prosecutors to meet with local law enforcement agencies and set up “dedicated lines of communication.” Youngkin even falsely asserted McAuliffe “calls in his friend Joe Biden to actually put the DOJ on Virginia parents.”
But Garland’s memo doesn’t direct the FBI to “spy” on parents, so Youngkin and Republican lawmakers who made similar claims earned Four Pinocchios.
McAuliffe keeps inflating coronavirus numbers
How to respond to the coronavirus pandemic has been a major issue in the governor’s race, with McAuliffe supporting vaccine mandates and Youngkin opposing them.
Over and over, we caught McAuliffe inflating the numbers regarding coronavirus cases in Virginia and how many children were hospitalized with covid-19. His campaign first said it was a slip of the tongue, but it happened too often to be ignored. So we gave McAuliffe Four Pinocchios.
Youngkin’s viral ‘child’ ad is missing important context
As part of his closing argument, Youngkin released an ad featuring a mother detailing her concern about a “reading assignment” her “child” was given by his teacher. The ad went viral — more than 1 million views in the first 24 hours — but it told an incomplete story. We provided readers with a line-by-line tour through her voice-over to provide the missing context, including that the mother is a Republican activist, her child was a high school senior in Advanced Placement English Literature and the reading assignment was the best-selling novel “Beloved,” by Toni Morrison, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1988.
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