(WAVY) — It is the battle of the titans in North Carolina State Senate District 1. The district is massive, covering 11 counties. The district also encompasses all North Carolina areas in WAVY-TV’s coverage area.
Long-term Republican Sen. Bob Steinburg faces well-known Democratic challenger and businesswoman Tess Judge for the state Senate District 1 seat.
So, what’s true and what’s false in political ads for the first district race?
A political ad focusing on firearms is paid for by Citizens for a Better NC House and features a woman holding a gun and talking about protecting her family.
“Tess Judge … won’t let you protect yourself and your family. They are anti-gun,” the ad says. The statement is sourced to the Ocracoke Observer on Oct. 16, 2018.
The Truth Tracker finds that to be a false claim. Judge says she is not anti-gun.
“I have never been anti-gun. I support peoples’ right to the Second Amendment, and for anyone to put out there to say any differently is not true.”
The ad continues: “But that’s not all. Tess Judge is opposed to our constitutional right to hunt and fish.” That claim is also sourced to the Ocracoke Observer.
We asked Judge about that part of the ad. She said there wasn’t anything in the Observer about her opposition to hunting and fishing.
10 On Your Side did check: Judge’s opposition to a series of six amendments is in the Observer, and is still online when you search it.
The Observer was reporting on the six state amendments on the ballot in 2018 including one revolving around “the right of the people to hunt, fish, and harvest wildlife.” The article paraphrased what each amendment would mean.
It then reads, House District 6, “Democratic candidate Tess Judge opposes all of” the six amendments.
Judge insists it’s not true, and that is not how she feels.
We called the Ocracoke Observer to get the story behind what they posted regarding Judge’s reaction to the six proposed state amendments in 2018. The Observer responded and said “This story … did not cover the candidates’ views on the right to hunt and fish in North Carolina or the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.”
On the subject of gun rights, it is also true the National Rifle Association gave Judge an “F” rating on gun issues.
“I don’t know why they’re giving me an F. What I do know — I support the Second Amendment,” she said.
On the other side of the Senate District 1 race, Judge has authorized a commercial against Steinburg that begins “Scandals and now lies from Bob Steinburg.”
Judge’s ad accuses Steinburg of scandals and lies, so we asked Steinburg to tell us what the scandals are.
“I have no idea. I don’t know. I don’t know what she’s talking about neither does anyone else,” he said.
The Truth Tracker finds Judge’s scandal claim against Steinburg to be false. There is nothing in Judge’s authorized commercial against Steinburg that supports her using the word “scandals.”
We pressed Judge on the issue. She relied on campaign spokesman Austin Cook to give examples of scandals involving Steinburg, and after a long pause Judge told us “It’s basically what Austin told you, that information that he can provide to you.”
Neither Cook nor Judge offered any examples to support using the word “scandals.”
“The ads are so patently false. I don’t want to call anybody a liar, but these ads are lies, and I can prove it,” Steinburg said.
Judge’s commercial also states “When he faced the pandemic and historic job losses, Bob took money from the health industry.”
The Truth Tracker finds that true, and Steinburg admits it.
“Look, everybody has taken health industry money. Absolutely, but that doesn’t mean that the healthcare industry owns me.”
Judge’s commercial also states Steinburg voted “against expanding health care coverage, against protection for pre-existing conditions, against funding rural hospitals.”
In the Steinburg interview, he said the claim that he is against protections for pre-existing conditions is “absolutely not true.”
But it is true. Steinburg voted against expanding Medicaid, and Obamacare that covers health care for pre-existing conditions.
“The only thing I have voted against was the Affordable Care Act. I did vote against that, and for good reason. The Affordable Care Act was the ‘unaffordable care act.’”
It is also true Republicans are opposed to Obamacare, and not having a Republican alternative won’t solve the health care problem. Steinburg concedes Republicans don’t have a plan,
“There’s a lot of talk about ‘this plan’ or ‘that plan’ or ‘some other plan,’ but we haven’t seen anything concrete yet.”
Steinburg’s ad claims he is “delivering results, fighting for us with millions for rural hospitals.”
That is true: Steinburg — along with most other legislators — voted for millions in COVID-19 relief funding,
“We spent $65 million to our … rural hospitals … designated by Medicare and Medicaid as critical access hospitals.”
But is also true that long before the coronavirus pandemic, Steinburg had voted against Medicaid expansion because it was too costly.
Judge’s commercial claims Steinburg blocked nearly $665 million for rural North Carolina hospitals.
“He voted against Medicaid expansion that would provide that money … long before COVID-19. All of us are seeing what’s happening with COVID-19. Where was the responsibility for healthcare for the people of our state before COVID-19? Rural hospitals needed money before then,” Judge said.
As for the money, total Spending from Sept. 1, 2020 shows the following, according to Flex Point Media:
Judge has spent $454,146 on advertising and has $341,001 in reserve. She is dwarfing Steinburg who has spent $133,921 on advertising and has $140,693 in reserve for advertising.
Two PAC groups — Citizens for a Better NC House supporting Steinburg and NC Families First for Judge — have each pumped in about a million dollars for each of their candidates. It could be record-breaking territory when it is over.