Louis Jacobson

Louis Jacobson

Chief Correspondent
ljacobson@politifact.com
1255 Stories Published
2176 Fact-Checks Published
Louis Jacobson has been with PolitiFact since 2009, currently as chief correspondent. Previously, he served as senior correspondent and deputy editor. Before joining PolitiFact, he worked as a deputy editor of Roll Call and as founding editor of its legislative wire service, CongressNow. Earlier, he spent more than a decade covering politics, policy, Congress and lobbying for National Journal magazine. He is the chief author of the forthcoming 2026 edition of The Almanac of American Politics, having served as senior author of the 2016, 2018, 2020, 2022, and 2024 editions and contributing to the 2000 and 2004 editions. Since 2004, Jacobson has been writing a column on politics in the states, which has run in Roll Call, Stateline.org, Governing, and the Cook Political Report. He now divides the column between Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics and U.S. News and World Report. Earlier in his career, he wrote on science for the Economist, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and Science magazine. He received the Weidenbaum Center Award for Evidence-Based Journalism from Washington University in St. Louis in 2014, and in 2016 and 2022, the Society of American Business Editors and Writers gave him a Best in Business award for his economics coverage. Jacobson has been teaching at West Virginia University's Reed College of Media since August 2018, showing WVU students how to produce fact-checks for PolitiFact West Virginia. He has also been serving as a visiting scholar at St. Bonaventure University's Jandoli School of Communication since April 2020, teaching students how to produce fact-checks for PolitiFact New York. 

Areas of Expertise

2024 Senate Elections 3 Abortion 29 Ad Watch 4 Afghanistan 3 Agriculture 1 Arizona 3 Ask PolitiFact 9 Bankruptcy 1 Bipartisanship 1 Border Security 5 California 5 Campaign Finance 8 Candidate Biography 19 Census 2 Children 6 China 4 Climate Change 11 Congress 63 Constitutional Amendments 1 Coronavirus 63 Corrections and Updates 34 Crime 12 Criminal Justice 7 Debates 1 Debt 7 Deficit 3 DOGE 5 Drugs 1 Economy 86 Education 12 Elections 119 Energy 15 Environment 13 Ethics 2 Facebook Fact-checks 3 Fake news 3 Families 4 Federal Budget 22 Financial Regulation 6 Fires 1 Florida 35 Foreign Policy 39 Gas Prices 10 Georgia 43 Guns 4 Health Care 27 History 19 Homeland Security 9 Homeless 1 Housing 6 Human Rights 1 Illinois 2 Immigration 42 Impeachment 6 Income 1 Iowa 3 Iran 2 Israel 7 Jan. 6 19 Jobs 25 Legal Issues 115 LGBTQ 3 Lottery 1 Marriage 2 Medicare 6 Michigan 4 Military 26 Missouri 1 National 731 Natural Disasters 3 Negative Campaigning 1 Nevada 1 New Hampshire 11 New Jersey 2 New York 9 North Carolina 3 Nuclear 3 Ohio 5 Pennsylvania 7 PolitiFact en Español 21 PolitiFact's Top Promises 4 Polls and Public Opinion 8 Population 2 Poverty 2 Privacy Issues 1 Public Health 48 Public Safety 1 PunditFact 25 Race and Ethnicity 21 Redistricting 1 Religion 2 Russia 11 Science 3 Second Term Promise 3 Sexuality 1 Social Security 12 Sports 3 State Budget 3 States 6 Supreme Court 7 Taxes 20 Technology 3 Tennessee 1 Terrorism 3 Texas 11 Trade 8 Transportation 5 Ukraine 11 Uncategorized 8 Veterans 2 Virginia 4 Voter ID Laws 2 West Virginia 8 Wisconsin 4 Women 4 Workers 7

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