What Ted Cruz, Beto O’Rourke got right and wrong in Senate debate

Texas
ted beto stitch 3
Ted Cruz says in an ad that debuted in August 2018 that Beto O'Rourke called for national debate of legalizing all narcotics. O'Rourke suggested as much as a member of the El Paso City Council in 2009.
By W. Gardner Selby
September 24, 2018

Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke lofted many factual claims in debate.

We spotted a few that have been fact-checked before.

Read all about that here.

And what did you hear that might merit a fact-check?

Our Sources

Story, "Cruz and O’Rourke Confident in First Debate, But There Was No Clear Winner," Texas Monthly, Sept. 22, 2018

News story, "Beto O’Rourke visits 254th Texas county in bid for U.S. Senate," Houston Chronicle, June 11, 2018

Fact-check, "Bernie Sanders: The United States has 'more people in jail than any other country on Earth,'" PolitiFact, Oct. 13, 2015

Story, "Beto O’Rourke’s claims on African Americans and police shootings," the Fact Checker, The Washington Post, Aug. 30, 2018

Story, "Lie of the Year: 'If you like your health care plan, you can keep it,'" PolitiFact, Dec. 13, 2013

Fact-checks, PolitiFact Texas, "Ted Cruz says Beto O'Rourke is 'open to abolishing ICE,'" PolitiFact Texas, Aug. 6, 2018; "PAC backing Ted Cruz falsely says Beto O'Rourke voted against body armor for border sheriffs," Sept. 13, 2018

News story, "Fact check: Ted Cruz and Beto O’Rourke’s statements during the Senate debate," Dallas Morning News, Sept. 21, 2018

News story, "’Modern-day Jim Crow.’ ‘We're going to protect pre-existing conditions.’ Here’s a closer look at claims made at Ted Cruz and Beto O'Rourke's debate," Texas Tribune, Sept. 22, 2018