Adam Putnam’s New Opponent: The Truth

Adam Putnam isn’t just running against Ron DeSantis — he’s running against the truth.

In a new ad, Putnam says that Florida taxpayers “pay tens of millions of dollars a year to feed and house in our prison system criminal illegal aliens.” It’s a blatantly false claim that has already been debunked by PolitiFact.

But that didn’t seem to bother Putnam, whose campaign has officially gone fact-free.

This is the fourth time in nearly two weeks that Putnam has lied to voters. During the first gubernatorial debate, he claimed that Ron DeSantis had voted to give food stamps to undocumented immigrants. That claim — which first appeared in ads run by shadowy far right groups — had already been debunked by PolitiFact.

Putnam has also shown a startling lack of candor when discussing his Department’s mismanagement of the concealed carry system. After it was initially revealed that Putnam’s office had approved hundreds of concealed carry permits without conducting background checks, Putnam tried to place all the blame on one employee. New reporting shows that was untrue. According to the Tampa Bay Times, investigators actually found a much deeper culture of incompetence and negligence at the Department that went far beyond one “deceitful” employee as Putnam claimed. Putnam also falsely said that he answered every question from reporters about the gun scandal.

Adam Putnam’s Difficult Relationship with the Truth

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• The premise of the ad is centered around the spurious assertion that “taxpayers in Florida are paying nearly a hundred million dollars a year to imprison criminal illegal aliens.” Independent fact-checking site PolitiFact called that claim “Mostly False.”

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• The ad gives no citation for that $100 million figure, though the campaign pointed to Putnam’s own “Secure Florida First Agenda” plan. While that document has citations throughout, no source is given for that exact figure.

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• Putnam denied a cover up and said he answered reporters “until they ran out of questions,” which isn’t true.

PolitiFact: Do Florida taxpayers pay tens of millions of dollars a year on undocumented immigrants in prison?

• Putnam said Florida taxpayers “pay tens of millions of dollars a year to feed and house in our prison system criminal illegal aliens.” We rate this claim Mostly False.

PolitiFact: Putnam parrots previous absurd claim on food stamps for illegal immigrants

• We rate this claim Pants on Fire!