New York Times reporters have fanned out across the country, chronicling the highest-profile Senate contests that will decide who controls the chamber and the tiny municipal disputes about data centers. I dragooned some of them to answer your queries.
Why are candidates allowed to air ads that lie about their opponents? | Dawn Seggelink | Medford, Ore.
Courts give political speech the highest level of First Amendment protection. Candidates and PACs can be sued for defamation if they air damaging claims that they knew were false, or if they “acted with reckless disregard” of the truth. But the bar to win such a case is extremely high, and courts move slowly. More important, candidates don’t have to lie outright to fudge the truth. There is a well-established playbook for that, including by omitting context, airing unproven allegations and drawing misleading conclusions about unrelated facts. — Bayliss Wagner, who covers politics
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