Wendy Davis v. the Truth-O-Meter
State Sen. Wendy Davis, a Fort Worth lawyer, declared her candidacy for governor this afternoon, angling to be the first Democrat and female elected to the state’s top elected post since Ann Richards prevailed in 1990. Confirmation came first in an email blast.
Davis already has a PolitiFact report card showing our analyses of nine Davis statements since July 2010 when we rated as Half True her declaration that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality lied about air quality tests in the Barnett Shale. (Scroll the full pile to the right.)
Most recently, we found Half True her claim that each year, “about 25,000 American women … become pregnant through rape or incest.” Estimates of rape-related pregnancies per year vary from 3,200 to 50,000. Davis’ number, dating from 1998, fits inside that range, but we saw too much disagreement to settle on any particular count of rape-related pregnancies per year.
Relish more perspective? We’ve checked 11 statements by Republican gubernatorial candidate Greg Abbott, the state attorney general, and a single claim by Republican candidate Tom Pauken, former chairman of the Texas Workforce Commission. We mixed in a couple samples with the Davis checks to the right.
What should we explore next?
Our Sources
See Davis's report card here.
