As fact-checkers, we watch a lot of ads in the lead-up to elections, and we only write about a fraction of them. Some of them are downright bizarre. As we first started doing 20 years ago — just for fun — on Election Day, we’re giving out pretend awards to some of the notable ads we came across this campaign cycle.
Over the course of this election, we’ve monitored key toss-up congressional races, fact-checking false claims and distortions of the facts on a host of topics. But some issues have loomed larger than others.
In Kansas’ tight Senate race, ads from Democratic and Republican outside groups are accusing the other party’s candidate of having protected pedophiles. In both cases, the attacks are misleading or unsupported by the evidence.
One of the closing ads from Democrat James Talarico in the Texas Senate race says that Crystal Mason received a five-year prison sentence for illegal voting “because of Ken Paxton’s crackdown on voters of color.” But there’s more to the story.
In the Alaska Senate race, the candidacy of retired teacher Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. — not the incumbent Republican senator, Dan S. Sullivan — has been the subject of months of legal wrangling. But the issue took on increased national prominence this past week.
An ad airing in the New Hampshire Senate race tells viewers that Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas is “out for himself,” using cherry-picked figures to falsely claim that his net worth has skyrocketed while in office.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright has cast data centers as a “massive force to reduce the price of electricity” even as many midterm ads claim the opposite. Who is right? We explain the complexities.
Throughout October, President Donald Trump has traveled across the country, holding campaign rallies supporting Republican candidates in the 2026 midterms. In his remarks, he has made a number of false, misleading or exaggerated claims.
An ad from the campaign of Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan in Alaska features a mother whose 22-year-old son died from fentanyl and who claims Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola took contributions from “liberals [who] opened our borders to the drug cartels” and then “voted with them against securing our border.” But the ad leaves out several important points of context.
In late August, Democrat James Talarico said that he had told “every … wealthy person” that “if you are OK with getting taxed more, if you’re OK with me limiting your influence in politics, you are welcome to join this movement that we are building.” But an ad from his Republican opponent, Ken Paxton, skips the part about wealthy people and influencing politics to brand Talarico as a proponent of raising all kinds of taxes.
