PolitiFact | The 2018 California Governor's Race

The Poynter Institute

English Español

Stand up for the facts!

Our only agenda is to publish the truth so you can be an informed participant in democracy.
We need your help.

I would like to contribute

True

0%

Mostly True

28%

Half True

0%

Mostly False

0%

False

0%

Pants on Fire

0%

All Fact-checks for The 2018 California Governor's Race

stated on September 10, 2018 in a campaign speech

"Close to half of the children" in California are "at or near poverty," when you consider cost-of-living.

true

true

stated on August 17, 2018 in a TV interview

Says John Cox "parroted, parroted Trump — almost verbatim — on the children’s separation issues at the border."

true

barely-true

stated on July 30, 2018 in a Fox Business Network interview

"Fully half the people — our research is showing half the people — in (California) want to leave."

true

half-true

stated on May 21, 2018

Says the California state auditor "found (John) Chiang lost track of $31 billion dollars," as state controller.

true

half-true

stated on April 23, 2018 in a campaign TV ad

GOP candidate for California governor Travis Allen "on the floor vote … refused to join Republicans opposing driver licenses for illegal aliens."

true

half-true

stated on April 23, 2018 in a campaign ad

Republican candidate for California governor Travis Allen "gave campaign donations to Jerry Brown, Gavin Newsom and Barbara Boxer."

true

mostly-true

stated on May 12, 2018 in a campaign ad

Antonio Villaraigosa's "recklessness (as mayor of Los Angeles) ... left no funding to test 7,000 rape kits, putting public safety at risk."

true

false

stated on May 8, 2018 in a campaign debate

"In San Francisco, we were successful in reducing our street population 40 percent. We got 12,000 people off the street."

true

half-true

stated on April 23, 2018 in in a campaign ad

Gavin Newsom was "the first to take on the National Rifle Association and win."

true

false

stated on March 29, 2018 in a letter to U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions

"A majority of Americans now live in states where they have decided to legalize cannabis," including recreational and medical marijuana.

true

true

stated on March 8, 2018

"Homelessness has skyrocketed across California. We have the nation’s highest homelessness rate and the nation’s highest homeless population."

true

mostly-true

stated on March 8, 2018

"California is 49th out of 50 in the United States in per capita housing units. Only Utah can lay claim to being lowest in per capita production."

true

true

Antonio Villaraigosa

stated on March 5, 2018 in a news release

California’s single-payer healthcare proposal would "force seniors off of Medicare."

true

half-true

stated on February 1, 2018 in an interview on Capital Public Radio

"Californians are overwhelmingly against this concept of the illegal sanctuary state."

true

false

stated on January 2, 2018 in interview on Fox News

"Seventy four percent of Californians are absolutely against sanctuary state" policies.

true

false

stated on June 15, 2017 in a Repeal the Gas Tax campaign article

"This new gas tax does not increase (road) capacity anywhere in the state. It will build no new lanes of freeways. If Californians didn’t like their traffic before, they’re going to like it even less when they’re stuck in the exact same traffic and paying more for their gas."

true

barely-true

stated on October 21, 2017 in a Capital Public Radio interview

Californians pay "the highest electricity bills" in the nation.

true

false

stated on October 16, 2017 in an interview on Capital Public Radio

Since 1965, California has built "six (college) campuses but 23 prisons."

true

false

stated on October 19, 2017 in a San Francisco Chronicle op-ed.

"It costs nearly five times as much in California to build and maintain a mile of road as it does in the rest of the nation."

true

false

stated on October 11, 2017 in an op-ed

"Ninety percent of people born in the 1940s ended up doing better financially than their parents. But those born in the 1980s, the much-maligned Millennials, have only a 50-50 chance of doing better (financially) than their parents, despite being the best-educated generation in our history."

true

true