PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — Every day, Illinoisans are seeing new political ads on TV, or receive them by mail.
We’re putting these claims politicians are making to the test. WMBD’s Matt Sheehan investigated State Rep. Mark Luft’s mailer against GOP opponent Travis Weaver.
Illinoisans throughout the 93rd district are receiving political mailers in their mailboxes. On one side, it’s a photo of State Rep. and Pekin Mayor Mark Luft, with three bullet points about him.
On the other side, it’s this.
First of all, this picture (from 2013), is photoshopped. The man on Travis Weaver’s right is one of his family friends, NOT Governor JB Pritzker.
Now let’s dive into the two bullet points Luft describes Weaver with.
The first — saying he shares the same insider circles as JB Pritzker and Mike Madigan. Travis took to Facebook to refute this claim, releasing the following statement.
Luft’s second claim is that Weaver is “not a real Republican.” WMBD’s Matt Sheehan received Weaver’s voting records from the Peoria County Election Commission. From what is available, it is visible that Weaver has only ever voted Republican.
Luft, on the other hand, has voted Democrat in five out of the last 10 primary elections. His last time voting Democrat, on public record, was 2008.
After fully assessing this ad, I’m determining it to be completely false. There is no logical explanation for either of Luft’s claims against Weaver. His photoshopped photo, putting Pritzker’s face on another man, is completely misleading.
If you have received political mailers or seen TV ads you want to see put to the truth test, email them to msheehan@wmbd.com. In the header, put “TRUTH TEST.”
