McAuliffe's claim that he set a 'record' investment in education is latest in line of misleading statements

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Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe claimed in a new campaign ad that he set a “record” with his investment in public education in his last term as governor, but he’s been fact-checked on the claim a couple of times before.

McAuliffe released his new ad, entitled “Because of You,” on Thursday, which claims that McAuliffe made a “record investment in education” during his previous term governing the Old Dominion.

However; McAuliffe’s claim appears to be the latest in a line of misleading statements on the matter.

PolitiFact has hit McAuliffe with multiple fact-checks on the claim since the former governor started touting it while in office, calling it “mostly false.”

While McAuliffe did set the record for Virginia’s education investment in terms of raw dollars with his $6.5 billion 2016 and $6.8 billion 2017 budgets, money doesn’t keep its value from year to year due to inflation – something McAuliffe didn’t take into consideration.

In fact, according to PolitiFact, the 2008-2009 school year takes the cake for the largest investment when adjusted to 2018 dollars with a $7.5 billion investment in public education.

It’s not just the 2008-09 school year, though – PolitiFact also reported that, when adjusted for inflation, three state budgets between July 2006 and June 2009 spent more on education than McAuliffe did.

Macaulay Porter, the spokeswoman for McAuliffe’s opponent Republican candidate Glenn Youngkin, blasted McAuliffe’s claim as his modus operandi in a Thursday email to Fox News.

“McAuliffe has been called out many times for making false claims that he made a record investment in education,” Porter said. “This is his M.O., make a dishonest statement and hope no one checks the facts.”

“The truth is, McAuliffe failed to deliver on his promises and shortchanged Virginia’s students, parents and teachers. Virginians cannot trust Terry to tell the truth,” she added.

The former Virginia governor has come under fire recently after he flipped on his stance on right-to-work laws, after previously supporting them.

Since his announcement in support of the repeal, some of the nation’s most influential labor unions have donated $2.2 million in total to McAuliffe’s campaign, according to new campaign financial filings. This accounts for almost 30% of his fundraising haul over the last quarter.

McAuliffe’s campaign did not respond to Fox News’ request for comment.

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