Reality Check: Attack Ads In The Nolan-Mills Race
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Congressman Rick Nolan, the Democrat representing Minnesota's 8th District, is running a television ad responding to what he calls a "smear" campaign by his opponent, Republican challenger Stewart Mills.
The Nolan ad features a claim we debunked on Reality Check, but it misrepresents what Reality Check reported in a recent story.
"Stewart Mills is running another smear campaign so misleading that fact-checkers called it false," the Nolan ad begins.
Reality Check found false one claim in the Mills ad: that Nolan wants to bring "unvetted" Syrian refugees to America.
Here's what the Mills ad said: "Rick Nolan supports bringing 100,000 unvetted Syrians to America by the end of the year."
He doesn't.
But much what the Mills ad says is true, even if some of it is out of context.
100,000 Syrian refugees? True.
By the end of 2016? True.
"Unvetted"? False.
The scary ad, which features dark, grainy, slow motion scenes of terrorism, is not unique to Minnesota.
A Republican Congressional candidate in Florida, Francis Rooney, is using the same strategy in an ad. His ad states that "Obama still wants to let unvetted Syrians in."
National Republicans are using scenes of terrorism to link Democrats to a false claim of "unvetted" Syrian refugees.
They are targeting 8 of 10 voters who say terrorism is among their top issues.
The Nolan-Mills re-match in the 8th District is among the most hotly contested in the country.
Mills lost to Nolan in 2014.
Here Are Some Of The Sources We Used For This Reality Check: