Fact Check: False Republican attack ads backfire, exposing GOP’s growing desperation

‘With no achievements for Minnesota’s middle-class families to highlight, the GOP has resorted to distorting the truth and lying to voters about DFL candidates’

Over the past several weeks, Minnesota Republican congressional candidates and their allies have taken to launching desperate attacks on their DFL opponents. Running from their records, Jason Lewis, Erik Paulsen, Jim Hagedorn, and Pete Stauber have resorted to frenzied attacks that have repeatedly been rated false and misleading by major local news outlets.

“Republicans like Erik Paulsen and Jason Lewis have been rubber stamps for the Trump agenda in Washington. Now, they’re hiding from their records. With no achievements for Minnesota’s middle-class families to highlight, the GOP has resorted to distorting the truth and lying to voters about DFL candidates.

“Luckily, Minnesota voters are too smart to fall for these misleading smears. These ads are backfiring on the Republicans running them, exposing just how desperate these GOP candidates are. But while their Republican opponents and allies go lower and lower, DFL candidates are going high, highlighting their plans to rein in skyrocketing health care costs, create good-paying middle-class jobs, and get big money out of our political system.”

KARE11 (NBC): VERIFY: Attacks on Phillips Fail Truth Test
“John Croman examines two new claims in attack ads against Democrat Dean Phillips… He finds one to be just plain false, and the other to be very misleading to the average viewer.”

WCCO (CBS): Paulsen Ad Quotes WCCO’s Kessler Out of Context
“This is the kind of ad where the spin doctors take one kernel of truth, exaggerate it, and then twist it into something completely unrecognizable, Kessler says.”

KSTP (ABC): TRUTH TEST: NRCC Ad Attacks Angie Craig’s Business Record<
“This ad gets a D-minus on the “Truth Test” for offering mostly misleading information that leaves a false impression.”

The Star Tribune: Hyperbolic attack ads, anti-Radinovich edition
“What is nowhere close to the truth is the latest ad’s conclusion that Radinovich has ‘spent his life running from the law.’”

The Washington Post: Ad Watch
“Democrat Dan Feehan is crying foul over an NRCC ad that portrays him as callous about military funding. This is one of several recent ads that have attacked some Democrats’ apparent strength — their military service — by portraying them as anti-troop.”