FactCheck.org is reporting that recent political advertisements in Senate midterm races have made misleading or false connections to criminal incidents. It said an ad from the National Republican Senatorial Committee in the Ohio Senate race attempts to link former Sen. Sherrod Brown to a deadly April interstate crash, in which an immigrant was charged with vehicular homicide. FactCheck.org Director Lori Robertson found no evidence connecting Brown's votes on immigration legislation to the suspect or the incident. The New York Times reported that relatives of the crash victims, who were not consulted about the ad, asked the NRSC to cease running the advertisement, calling it "classless."
In the North Carolina Senate race, FactCheck.org said a super PAC ad supporting Republican Michael Whatley falsely implies that the accused murderer of a woman in a 2025 home invasion was among prisoners released by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper during the COVID-19 pandemic. FactCheck.org Deputy Director Rob Farley documented that the murder occurred in South Carolina, where the suspect was released from prison two years earlier on a burglary charge. While North Carolina did release 3,500 prisoners during the pandemic after a lawsuit and settlement, FactCheck.org found no connection between those releases and the murder featured in the ad.
FactCheck.org also reported that President Donald J Trump's claims about savings from his "no tax on tips" policy do not align with available data. It said the Tax Policy Center estimated in August 2025 that about 3% of U.S. households would benefit from a temporary federal income tax deduction for qualified tips, with an average savings of about $1,400. The White House Council of Economic Advisers similarly estimated an average increase of about $1,300 a year for affected workers.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. distorted a statistic when celebrating a decline in obesity rates, FactCheck.org reported. It said Kennedy claimed obesity rates dropped 3% "this year" for the first time in 40 years, suggesting the Trump administration was partly responsible. FactCheck.org found that a similar reduction, according to one poll, occurred over several years and began under the Biden administration, with experts noting little evidence linking it to diet or lifestyle changes.
FactCheck.org stated that President Donald J Trump inaccurately characterized a 2025 decline in national crime as a dramatic turnaround and made misleading assertions about his administration's policy impact when presenting the FBI's annual crime report. It also debunked Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s claim that a "recent" study "just out" strongly supports splitting the combined measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine. FactCheck.org reported that Republican Sens. Rand Paul and Ron Johnson revived a discredited claim about an astronomical miscarriage rate following COVID-19 vaccination and misrepresented Dr. Anthony Fauci's text messages regarding vaccine safety during pregnancy. It said multiple studies show no link between COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy and an increased risk of miscarriage.