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PolitiFact’s annotated vice presidential debate

National
Table tight
Gov. Mike Pence, right, speaks as Sen. Tim Kaine listens during the vice-presidential debate at Longwood University in Farmville, Va., Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2016. (Andrew Gombert/Pool vi
Allison Graves
By Allison Graves
October 5, 2016
By Joseph Cariz
October 5, 2016
By Katherine Burns
October 5, 2016
By Rachel Tiede
October 5, 2016

PolitiFact’s writers annotated the transcript of the vice presidential debate on Medium. Read the transcript of the debate with our analysis and fact-checks by clicking here.

Our Sources

Listed in the annotation

Browse the Truth-O-Meter

More by Allison Graves
Democratic Governors Association
stated on July 13, 2018 in a post on Medium:
Says Adam Putnam “backed a water bill that gutted water quality regulations.”
Half-True
By Allison Graves • July 18, 2018
Rick Scott
stated on June 13, 2018 in an ad:
Says Sen. Bill Nelson “voted for higher taxes” 349 times.
False
By Allison Graves • July 5, 2018
Ron DeSantis
stated on June 28, 2018 in a Fox News debate:
Says Adam Putnam “endorsed the Schumer-Obama Gang of Eight immigration amnesty.”
Mostly True
By Allison Graves • June 29, 2018
Bill Nelson
stated on June 21, 2018 in an ad:
Says he “actually wrote the bipartisan law that makes it illegal to drill off Florida’s coast.”
Mostly True
By Allison Graves • June 29, 2018
Adam Putnam
stated on June 7, 2018 in an interview with Fox News:
Florida taxpayers “pay tens of millions of dollars a year to feed and house in our prison system criminal illegal aliens.”
Mostly False
By Allison Graves • June 26, 2018
New Republican PAC
stated on June 11, 2018 in a political ad:
Says Bill Nelson voted for “cuts to Medicare providers” and voted to weaken “Social Security protections” as a U.S. senator.
Mostly False
By Allison Graves • June 15, 2018
Andrew Gillum
stated on June 20, 2018 in a debate:
Under Philip Levine, Miami Beach “passed a resolution to ban assault rifles, which was not enforceable and never enforced. He passed a resolution to raise the minimum wage, which actually no one got the benefit of because it was not enforced.”  
Mostly True
By Allison Graves • June 9, 2018
Florida Democratic Party
stated on June 6, 2018 in in a press release:
“Flip Flop! After opposing term limits for decades, Adam Putnam adopts Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis’ position.”
Half-True
By Allison Graves • June 8, 2018
Ron DeSantis
stated on June 2, 2018 in during a BBQ :
“The bulk of the problem with the opioid epidemic is the fentanyl and all the synthetic drugs coming across the southern border.”  
Half-True
By Allison Graves • June 7, 2018
Florida House Majority Office
stated on May 17, 2018 in a video:
It is a “myth” that “per-student funding only rose by 47 cents this year.”
Mostly False
By Allison Graves • May 30, 2018
Senate Majority PAC
stated on May 21, 2018 in in an ad:
Says Bill Nelson is “one of America’s most independent senators.”
Half-True
By Allison Graves • May 24, 2018
Bloggers
stated on May 14, 2018 in a post on Facebook:
“BREAKING NEWS: Donald Trump On His Way To Donate Kidney To Melania Trump.”
Pants on Fire!
By Allison Graves • May 17, 2018
Bloggers
stated on May 15, 2018 in a post on Facebook:
“Legendary Actor Sidney Poitier: Donald Trump might become ‘The Greatest Of All Time.’ ”  
Pants on Fire!
By Allison Graves • May 17, 2018
The Collective super PAC
stated on May 11, 2018 in an ad:
Says Gwen Graham “voted against President Obama 52 percent of the time.”
Half-True
By Allison Graves • May 17, 2018
Bloggers
stated on May 14, 2018 in a post on the Internet:
Says Julia Roberts told Celine Dion, “If you hate Trump you can go in your country.”
Pants on Fire!
By Allison Graves • May 15, 2018

PolitiFact’s annotated vice presidential debate

Clear
Rob Sand
stated on August 24, 2026 in an ad:
Iowa once had “the best public schools in the country,” but is now “in the bottom half.”
Half-True
By Grace Olson • September 24, 2026
Republican National Committee
stated on September 2, 2026 in an X post:
“54% of North Carolina commercial driver’s licenses were issued illegally to foreign nationals.”
False
By Paul Specht • September 24, 2026
Texas PAC
stated on September 11, 2026 in an ad :
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico “supported using taxpayer dollars for sex change surgeries on young children.”
False
By Ben Brasch • September 24, 2026
Chris Pappas
stated on September 15, 2026 in a press release:
New Hampshire Republican U.S. Senate candidate John Sununu “led efforts to privatize Social Security.”
Mostly True
By Louis Jacobson • September 23, 2026
Sherrod Brown
stated on September 3, 2026 in a campaign ad:
Sen. Jon Husted “led the push to bring data centers to Ohio and gave billions of tax dollars to make it happen.”
Mostly True
By Cami Henry-Seymore • September 23, 2026
Donald Trump
stated on September 22, 2026 in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly:
The people who warned of climate change, the “Russia hoax” and the “Ukraine hoax” are the same people “now saying that AI is going to kill us all.”
False
By Caleb McCullough, Loreben Tuquero • September 22, 2026
TikTok posts
stated on September 20, 2026 in a post:
President Joe Biden “cut off 440 reporters’ credentials.”
Mostly False
By Jeff Cercone • September 21, 2026
Abdul El-Sayed
stated on September 1, 2026 in an X post:
President Donald Trump’s tariffs “cost each Michigan household $5,619.”
Mostly False
By Caleb McCullough • September 17, 2026
Zach Lahn
stated on August 21, 2026 in an ad:
Iowa gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand “wants to raise (Iowans’) taxes by $7,500 per year.”
False
By Genevieve DiChiara • September 17, 2026
TikTok posts
stated on September 3, 2026 in publicaciones en TikTok:
Adamari López “delató a dos inmigrantes que fueron capturados por las autoridades de inmigración”.
Pants on Fire!
By Maria Briceño • September 16, 2026
Abdul El-Sayed
stated on September 12, 2026 in an X post:
Former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers “voted to deny health care” to 9/11 first responders “nine times.”
Half-True
By Caleb McCullough • September 15, 2026
Jon Ossoff
stated on September 2, 2026 in a TV ad:
U.S. Rep. Mike Collins “voted to gut Social Security” and “wants to push (older Americans) off Social Security and back to work.”
Mostly False
By Maria Briceño • September 15, 2026
WinSenate
stated on in an ad:
“Troy Jackson expanded Medicaid health coverage in Maine. Susan Collins was the deciding vote for Trump’s Medicaid cuts.”
Mostly False
By Amy Sherman • September 14, 2026
Roy Cooper
stated on August 26, 2026 in a televised interview:
North Carolina officials “removed” an early-voting site from North Carolina A&T State University.
Mostly False
By Paul Specht • September 11, 2026
Byron Donalds
stated on August 24, 2026 in an ad:
Florida Democratic gubernatorial nominee David Jolly “wants more taxes on tips, overtime and Social Security.”
False
By Samantha Putterman • September 11, 2026
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
stated on September 10, 2026 in a speech at the RNC midterm convention:
The U.S. has “the sickest children in the history of the world.”
False
By Caleb McCullough, Loreben Tuquero • September 10, 2026
Sam Altman
stated on September 1, 2026 in a podcast:
“For every 38,000 ChatGPT queries, that is the same amount of water that is used in the production of a single almond in California.”
Mostly False
By Caleb McCullough • September 4, 2026
David Jolly
stated on August 28, 2026 in a news conference:
“70, 80% of people across Florida are saying, ‘Don’t build data centers.'”
Mostly True
By Samantha Putterman • September 2, 2026
Troy Jackson
stated on August 28, 2026 in an X post:
When Sen. Susan Collins “had the chance to actually vote to stop Trump’s tariffs from driving up costs for Maine families and businesses, she voted NO.”
Mostly False
By Amy Sherman • September 2, 2026
Jon Ossoff
stated on August 16, 2026 in a speech:
U.S. Rep. Mike Collins “is literally one of the most active crypto traders in the entire Congress, House or Senate.”
True
By Ben Brasch • September 2, 2026
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