PolitiFact | Lincoln Chafee

The Poynter Institute

English Español

Get PolitiFact in your inbox.

Lincoln Chafee is running for the Democratic nomination for president in 2016. He served one four-year term as Rhode Island's governor, beginning on Jan. 4, 2011. He was the first Independent to be elected to that office. He subsequently became a Democrat. As a Republican, he served as mayor of Warwick from 1992 to 1999, when he was appointed to the U.S. Senate following the death of his father, Sen. John H. Chafee. He was elected to a full Senate term in 2000. He is married with three children. In April 2015 he formed an exploratory committee to consider running for President.

True

0%

Mostly True

22%

Half True

0%

Mostly False

0%

False

0%

Pants on Fire

0%

Lincoln Chafee
stated on October 13, 2015 in presidential debate:

"I am very proud that over my almost 30 years of public service I have had no scandals."

By Mark Reynolds • October 15, 2015
Lincoln Chafee
stated on June 14, 2015 in Campaign speech :

"One of the reasons I believe we’re in trouble in Yemen is we lost the population on drone strikes issues. That’s what stirred up the population. That’s what is happening in Yemen."

By Mark Reynolds • July 26, 2015
Lincoln Chafee
stated on June 7, 2015 in comments on CNN's "State of the Union":

Says Ronald Reagan "talked about" converting the United States to the metric system.

By Lauren Carroll • June 7, 2015
Lincoln Chafee
stated on May 10, 2015 in an interview on CNN:

"We had the biggest drop of the rate of unemployment (in) all but 4 states."

By Mark Reynolds • May 10, 2015
Lincoln Chafee
stated on November 14, 2014 in a newspaper interview:

Rhode Island's legislature is "the strongest in the country."

By Katie Mulvaney • November 30, 2014

Lincoln Chafee
stated on October 13, 2015 in presidential debate:

"I am very proud that over my almost 30 years of public service I have had no scandals."

By Mark Reynolds • October 15, 2015
John DePetro
stated on July 7, 2014 in a talk radio comment:

"Although the governor doubled the beach fees . . . all the money, as we found out, is all going to an out-of-state company. The state isn't even getting the money for that."

By C. Eugene Emery Jr. • July 14, 2014
Frank Caprio
stated on October 6, 2010 in a gubernatorial debate:

Says Lincoln Chafee "settled a union strike by giving the teachers a 19-percent-raise."

By C. Eugene Emery Jr. • October 14, 2010
Democratic Governors Association
stated on July 29, 2010 in a statement on a DGA-created website:

Lincoln Chafee "voted with President George W. Bush and the conservative leadership 76% of the time."

By C. Eugene Emery Jr. • August 15, 2010
Lincoln Chafee
stated on June 18, 2010 in Lincoln Chafee, a posting on his website, Chafee for Governor:

If Rhode Island applied a 1-percent sales tax on all items exempt from sales tax, ''the state would receive an additional $89,376,857.''

By John Hill • June 30, 2010

Fact-checking journalism is the heart of PolitiFact. Our core principles are independence, transparency, fairness, thorough reporting and clear writing. The reason we publish is to give citizens the information they need to govern themselves in a democracy.

In a world of wild talk and fake news, help us stand up for the facts.