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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

Browse the Truth-O-Meter

More by W. Gardner Selby
Ken Paxton
stated on October 25, 2018 in a TV ad:
Says Ken Paxton “shut down the world’s largest human trafficking marketplace.”
Mostly False
By W. Gardner Selby • November 1, 2018
Donald Trump
stated on October 22, 2018 in a rally for Republican candidates in Houston:
Says Beto O’Rourke “voted to shield MS-13 gang members from deportation.”
Mostly False
By W. Gardner Selby • October 25, 2018
Beto O'Rourke
stated on October 16, 2018 in a debate televised from San Antonio:
Says “only one other senator from either party over the last 25 years” has “a worse record on bipartisanship” than Ted Cruz.  
True
By W. Gardner Selby • October 18, 2018
Alexander Strenger
stated on October 1, 2018 in response cited in an interactive voter guide:
Says 60 percent of Austin’s “waterways are found to be contaminated with fecal matter and deemed unsafe to swim.”
Half-True
By W. Gardner Selby • October 16, 2018
Beto O'Rourke
stated on September 29, 2018 in an Austin rally:
Says that in Texas, “you can be too gay to adopt” a foster child “who needs a loving home.”  
Half-True
By W. Gardner Selby • October 4, 2018
Ted Cruz
stated on September 21, 2018 in a debate at Southern Methodist University:
Says Beto O’Rourke described police as “modern-day Jim Crow.”
Mostly False
By W. Gardner Selby • September 25, 2018
Beto O'Rourke
stated on September 21, 2018 in a debate at Southern Methodist University:
Says he “did not try to leave the scene of the accident” that led to his arrest for driving while intoxicated.
Mostly False
By W. Gardner Selby • September 25, 2018
Texans Are
stated on September 12, 2018 in a TV ad:
Says Beto O’Rourke voted “against body armor for Texas sheriffs patrolling the border.”  
False
By W. Gardner Selby • September 13, 2018
Ken Paxton
stated on August 26, 2018 in an interview on Fox & Friends:
Says Texas has “had over 600,000 crimes committed by illegals since 2011. Over 1,200 homicides.”  
Pants on Fire!
By W. Gardner Selby • September 7, 2018
Greg Abbott
stated on August 30, 2018 in a TV ad:
Says Texas “high school graduation rates are at all-time highs.”  
True
By W. Gardner Selby • September 7, 2018
Ted Cruz
stated on September 4, 2018 in a video:
Says Beto O’Rourke said he’s grateful that people are burning or desecrating the American flag.
False
By W. Gardner Selby • September 5, 2018
Ted Cruz
stated on August 28, 2018 in an online video ad:
Says Beto O’Rourke “voted against” Hurricane Harvey “tax relief.”
Mostly True
By W. Gardner Selby • August 29, 2018
M.J. Hegar
stated on August 21, 2018 in an interview on Spectrum Cable's "Capital Tonight":
Says U.S. Rep. John Carter “hasn’t held a town hall in five years.”
Mostly True
By W. Gardner Selby • August 29, 2018
Beto O'Rourke
stated on July 26, 2018 in an ad in the Houston Defender:
Says “black Americans have 10 times less wealth than white Americans.”
Mostly True
By W. Gardner Selby • August 23, 2018
Silvestre Reyes
stated on May 22, 2012 in a TV ad:
Says Beto O’Rourke “has a criminal record that includes DWI and burglary arrests.”
True
By W. Gardner Selby • August 22, 2018

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

Clear
Alexander Vindman
stated on July 27, 2026 in an X post:
Then-Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody transferred “$10 million in taxpayer money meant for children’s health care to a campaign fund.”
Half-True
By Samantha Putterman • August 13, 2026
Ron Johnson
stated on August 10, 2026 in a Fox News Digital video:
There is “an 82% miscarriage rate with women who got the (COVID-19 vaccine) injection in the first or second trimester.”
False
By Caleb McCullough • August 12, 2026
Donald Trump
stated on August 10, 2026 in remarks in the Oval Office:
When the measles, mumps and rubella vaccines are given together in the combined MMR vaccine, “there could be a possibility they’re quite lethal.”
Pants on Fire!
By Amy Sherman, Madison Czopek • August 11, 2026
Donald Trump
stated on August 10, 2026 in remarks while signing an executive order:
There are vaccines the size of a “bottle of soda … poured into a little child’s body.”
Pants on Fire!
By Grace Abels, Louis Jacobson • August 11, 2026
X posts
stated on August 8, 2026 in X posts:
Michigan Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed “openly calls for Sharia law in America.”
Pants on Fire!
By Amy Sherman • August 10, 2026
Donald Trump
stated on August 4, 2026 in a Fox News interview:
Prices are “all coming down now. The food, the groceries, it’s all coming down.”
Mostly False
By Louis Jacobson • August 10, 2026
Mike Rogers
stated on August 5, 2026 in a campaign statement:
Abdul El-Sayed “believes America deserved 9/11.”
Pants on Fire!
By Caleb McCullough • August 7, 2026
Byron Donalds
stated on July 22, 2026 in X post:
“Senate Bill 484 ensures that utility rates will not go up due to data centers.”
Half-True
By Samantha Putterman • August 7, 2026
Seth Moulton
stated on August 5, 2026 in an Instagram post:
“DOJ Epstein files reveal Senator Ed Markey was part of Epstein lobbying effort.”
Mostly False
By Amy Sherman, Caleb McCullough • August 6, 2026
Donald Trump
stated on August 4, 2026 in una entrevista en Fox News :
En Venezuela, “Estamos ganando cientos de miles de millones de dólares (en ingresos petroleros), y ellos también”.
False
By Louis Jacobson • August 6, 2026
Donald Trump
stated on August 4, 2026 in a Fox News interview:
In Venezuela, “We’re making hundreds of billions of dollars (in oil revenue), and so are they.”
False
By Louis Jacobson • August 6, 2026
Donald Trump
stated on August 3, 2026 in remarks in the Oval Office:
“There was vandalism” at the Reflecting Pool.
False
By Amy Sherman, Louis Jacobson • August 4, 2026
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
stated on August 2, 2026 in an interview with Dana Bash on CNN:
The U.S. “had the highest death rate from COVID of any nation on earth.”
False
By Grace Abels • August 4, 2026
United Democracy Project
stated on July 28, 2026 in an ad:
“With our democracy on the line against Donald Trump in 2024, El-Sayed told Democrats to vote uncommitted — even after Gov. (Gretchen) Whitmer warned those efforts would help elect Donald Trump.”
Half-True
By Gracey Abernethy • July 31, 2026
Haley Stevens
stated on July 27, 2026 in a debate:
“No,” she hasn’t taken money from utility companies for her U.S. Senate campaign.
Mostly False
By Caleb McCullough • July 29, 2026
James Fishback
stated on July 23, 2026 in X post:
The U.S. Congress just “voted to merge our military with Israel’s military.”
False
By Samantha Putterman • July 29, 2026
Senate Leadership Fund
stated on July 25, 2026 in an ad:
Maine Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Troy Jackson hit a female colleague.
False
By Amy Sherman • July 28, 2026
Mike Collins
stated on July 21, 2026 in an X post:
U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff “voted against the Laken Riley Act.”
False
By Ben Brasch • July 28, 2026
Social Media
stated on July 14, 2026 in publicaciones en redes sociales:
“El Congreso acaba de elegir la única versión de reforma horaria que Estados Unidos ya probó, odio y derogó”.
True
By Alex Min • July 27, 2026
Abdul El-Sayed
stated on July 6, 2026 in an interview:
A Michigan Senate primary poll “seems to be funded by AIPAC.”
False
By Caleb McCullough • July 24, 2026
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