With lower than a month to go till the November midterms, each events have blanketed the airwaves with marketing campaign advertisements in battleground states as they search management over Congress.
In Iowa, New Hampshire and North Carolina — three of probably the most aggressive Senate races within the nation — candidates and teams supporting them have all spent tens of millions on advertisements faulting their opposition with failing to curb the price of residing, a high subject for voters, amongst different assaults.
Right here’s a truth examine of a few of these claims.
What Was Mentioned
“Listed below are the info. It’s Ashley Hinson who’s missed almost 200 votes in Congress. Votes to crack down on baby pornography, scale back crime and decrease well being care prices.”
— Senate Majority PAC, a high Democratic tremendous PAC, in an advert that started airing in September
That is deceptive. Consultant Ashley Hinson, the Republican Senate candidate in Iowa, and numerous teams supporting her candidacy have spent tens of millions of {dollars} on advertisements attacking Josh Turek, a state consultant and the Democratic nominee, for lacking 58 p.c of votes within the Iowa legislature this 12 months (the declare is correct).
In response, Mr. Turek and teams that assist him have retorted that Ms. Hinson, too, has a file of absenteeism within the Home — together with lacking votes to decrease well being care prices — by making an apples-to-oranges comparability.
The Senate Majority PAC cited Ms. Hinson lacking 33 roll-call votes — or recorded votes on the Home flooring — in addition to 163 votes in numerous committees she sits on since January 2021, when she first entered workplace.
However sometimes, a missed vote refers to a roll-call vote on the Home flooring, and Ms. Hinson really has a greater attendance file than most members of Congress. In response to GovTrack, a nonprofit web site that tracks congressional actions, Ms. Hinson has missed 33 of two,915 roll-call votes from January 2021 to September 2026. That’s about 1.1 p.c, lower than the median of two.1 p.c amongst present members within the Home. This 12 months, she has missed 5 out of 314 votes, about 1.6 p.c.
“A missed vote is a missed vote, and Ashley Hinson missed almost 200 of them throughout her time in Congress,” Lauren French, a spokeswoman for the Democratic group, mentioned in an announcement.
The tally within the advert included missed committee votes. Ms. Hinson missed a roll-call vote within the Home Appropriations Committee on a particular proposal to extend funding for community-based violence prevention applications (the movement failed 28 to 34).
Senate Majority PAC mentioned Ms. Hinson missed a voice vote on an modification to extend funding for applications that fight the exploitation of youngsters and one other voice vote on extending medical teaching programs in rural areas. However it isn’t clear whether or not Ms. Hinson was current for these specific votes as, by definition, voice votes don’t take attendance. Each amendments handed with none opposition.
Billy Fuerst, a spokesman for the Hinson marketing campaign, argued that by the advert’s logic, there isn’t a file of any member of Congress supporting these amendments since names and place weren’t logged. Morevoer, he mentioned, Ms. Hinson voted to advance the funding payments that included the 2 provisions to the complete Home.
What Was Mentioned
“Pappas voted to line the pockets of well being insurers with billions of tax {dollars}. Pappas even voted towards very important funding for rural and susceptible hospitals. Larger income for giant insurance coverage, greater prices for you.”
— No Going Again PAC, a Republican tremendous PAC, in an advert that started airing in September
That is deceptive. This advert attacking Consultant Chris Pappas, the Democratic nominee for Senate in New Hampshire, describes his opposition to the Republicans’ signature tax reduce and home spending package deal as a vote towards funding for rural hospitals.
That characterization omits the majority of what the laws really does (prolong tax cuts and reduce social security internet applications). And it ignores {that a} provision making a fund for rural hospitals was largely included to deal with deep funding cuts to Medicaid that threatened rural hospitals.
The home spending laws created a $50 billion fund for rural hospitals but in addition reduce Medicaid spending in rural areas by $137 billion over a decade, in accordance with an evaluation by KFF, a well being coverage nonprofit. So whereas Mr. Pappas technically voted towards the $50 billion fund, he additionally voted towards the $137 billion reduce to rural Medicaid spending.
The advert additionally cites Mr. Pappas’s assist for laws to increase additional subsidies for Obamacare as votes to “line the pockets of well being insurers,” echoing a longstanding criticism.
Additional subsidies created in 2021 in the course of the pandemic made medical insurance inexpensive for most individuals enrolled in plans below the Inexpensive Care Act, generally known as Obamacare. However regardless of Democratic efforts to increase them and Mr. Pappas’s assist, these subsidies expired this 12 months. Because of this, tens of millions of Individuals have dropped Obamacare protection, and premiums have elevated for a lot of extra. Conservative critics have argued that the additional subsidies enriched insurers, whilst premiums continued to extend.
The advert was funded by No Going Again PAC, a brand new tremendous PAC with ties to MAGA Inc., President Trump’s principal tremendous PAC. The group mentioned Mr. Pappas “must be ashamed” of his vote.
What Was Mentioned
“I’m going to indicate you one thing. No A.I., no particular results, simply Michael Whatley in his personal phrases: ‘Grocery costs are down, gasoline costs are down, housing costs are down, inflation is down.’ Unbelievable. And so is that this: ‘There is no such thing as a inflation.’”
— Former Gov. Roy Cooper, the Democratic nominee for Senate in North Carolina, in an advert that started airing in September
This wants context. It’s true that the advert options remarks made by Michael Whatley, the Republican candidate, with out particular results or enhancements by synthetic intelligence. However the advert omits that these remarks occurred greater than a 12 months earlier, in an interview in July 2025, when general costs have been growing at a slower tempo and fuel costs have been secure.
On the time Mr. Whatley made these remarks, mortgage charges had dipped barely and Mr. Trump’s warfare in Iran, and its accompanying surge in fuel costs, was nonetheless months away. The New York Instances had reported that inflation had accelerated, however remained comparatively calm within the early months of the second Trump administration. Economists, although, have been warning that the affect of Mr. Trump’s tariff insurance policies would quickly manifest within the type of greater costs.
The common value for fuel within the nation was $3.13 a gallon, not too completely different from the $3.10 a gallon on the finish of January 2025, when Mr. Trump started his second time period. Common 30-year mortgage charges had fallen to about 6.7 p.c in July 2025 from about 7 p.c that January.
“Costs have been down significantly in 2025 from the record-setting inflation attributable to Joe Biden’s reckless spending insurance policies endorsed by Roy Cooper,” DJ Griffin, a spokesman for the Whatley marketing campaign, mentioned in an announcement.
Nonetheless, Mr. Whatley was mistaken that grocery costs, housing and inflation have been “down” in the summertime of 2025. The Client Worth Index had risen by 2.7 p.c in June 2025 from a 12 months earlier, housing by 4 p.c and food-at-home by 2.4 p.c. Median residence costs in June had additionally risen, albeit modestly, by 1.8 p.c year-over-year, in accordance with the Nationwide Affiliation of Realtors.
As compared, the C.P.I. elevated by 3.4 p.c this August, the most recent obtainable knowledge, food-at-home by 2.2 p.c and housing by 3.1 p.c. Within the first week of October, fuel costs averaged $4.35, and mortgage charges have been greater than when Mr. Trump took workplace.
The Cooper marketing campaign mentioned Mr. Whatley has for months engaged in a sample of downplaying and making false statements about inflation, for instance, saying in January that “there isn’t a inflation” and in September that “we aren’t getting gouged” on fuel costs.