Latest Stories By Warren Fiske

Lt. Gov-elect Winsome Sears made four baffling statements about the COVID-19 vaccine on Sunday during an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union.” Although Sears and her Republican running mate, Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin, remain opposed to mandatory vaccination, they urged people to get vaccines this fall. CNN’s host, Donna Bash, noted that Virginia schools require a […]

PolitiFact VA: As election closes, McAuliffe and Youngkin continue debunked claims In the closing week of Virginia’s gubernatorial campaign, both major-party candidates are repeating debunked claims about the other’s tax policies. Democrat Terry McAuliffe and Republican Glenn Youngkin are using the same campaign trick: citing partisan reports that misrepresent the other’s fiscal policies.  McAuliffe is […]

Former and perhaps future Gov. Terry McAuliffe is not mincing his words on the COVID-19 vaccine. “Glenn Youngkin is an anti-vaxxer,” McAuliffe, a Democrat, said of his Republican opponent for governor during an Oct. 19, 2021 television interview with WJLA in Arlington. With little effort, we found six other TV interviews this month where McAuliffe […]

Democrat Terry McAuliffe and Republican Glenn Youngkin held their final gubernatorial debate on Sept. 28, disagreeing on coronavirus vaccines, taxes, education and abortion. A third candidate, Princess Blanding of the Liberation Party, was excluded by debate organizers. McAulife and Youngkin made a number of statements that were familiar to PolitiFact.  Here’s a fact-checking rundown of […]

Democrat Terry McAuliffe and Republican Glenn Youngkin disagreed sharply, sometimes personally, on a host of issues Thursday night during their first gubernatorial debate. They expressed different visions on abortion, vaccine mandates and taxes. Along the way, they made a number of statements that were familiar to PolitiFact. Here’s a fact-checking rundown of those claims: McAuliffe: “My […]

Correction, June 30: When PolitiFact Virginia initially published this report on June 29, we failed to include comments Youngkin made outside of an U.S. Export-Import Bank conference that were on similar topics, because in our reporting process, we failed to reach out to the McAuliffe campaign. This goes against our reporting standards, which require us to contact […]

Republicans have resurrected a two-year-old negative ad campaign focusing on Rep. Abigail Spanberger’s substitute teaching stint at a Saudi-funded Islamic school in Northern Virginia.  Spanberger, a Democrat, taught English in 2002-03 at the Islamic Saudi Academy in Alexandria while she was awaiting exhaustive security clearances that would allow her to work as a postal inspector […]

Citing phony evidence and unsubstantiated reports, state Sen. Amanda Chase recently alerted her constituents to arm themselves against violent protestors she said were coming to Chesterfield County. “Stay awake, stay alert. If you own a gun, keep it next to your bedside tonight,” Chase, R-Chesterfield, said in a Facebook video on June 1, after Richmond […]

Joe Biden put a national spin on Virginia's Nov. 5 elections for 140 General Assembly seats, saying, "As Virginia goes, so goes the nation." We examined whether Virginia's legislative races are a reliable predictor of presidential elections.  

Republican Dave Brat says wages are "going through the roof. Democrat Abigail Spanberger says they are "stagnant."

"You think you’re having a hard time, I’ve got $5 million worth of negative ads going at me," Brat told the incarcerated addicts. "How do you think I’m feeling?"

 

The ad accuses Rep. Dave Brat of selling out seniors for corporate campaign donations. But the evidence put forth by the House Majority PAC is contrived.