The New York Times was so so excited they’d found a disgruntled Trump voter in a swing state they wrote on entire story about him, headline: “I Gave the Other Guy a Shot.”
“Mark Graham, a real estate appraiser in this faded manufacturing hub, sat with friends at a gym named FitnessU on the morning after the Democratic debate in mid-September. He had voted for Barack Obama, but in 2016 he took a gamble on Donald Trump,” the article said, adding that Graham called the president’s conduct in office a “joke.”
“I’d vote for the Democratic nominee no matter who it is at this point,” he told the newspaper. “If Mr. Trump gets into another four years, where he’s a lame duck, it’s going to be like adding gasoline to the fire.”
Other liberal outlets loved the Graham story, and the voter with buyer’s remorse was featured in a series of videos created by America Bridge, a Democrat-supporting political action committee. The ads are part of a $5 million campaign aimed at flipping Trump supporters in the key swing states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.
There was only one problem: Graham didn’t vote in 2016.
Jet 24, a news organization in Erie, Pennsylvania, checked into Graham’s voting record.
“This ad apparently has a false claim in it. We’ve learned from records at the Erie County Courthouse that Mark Graham did not vote at all in 2016,” Jet wrote in a piece.
Erie News Now also published a story saying Graham “didn’t vote at all.”
Erie County voting records obtained by Erie News Now reveal Graham did not vote for Trump in 2016. The records show Graham did not vote in either the primary or the general election. Graham was interviewed today by Erie News Now and was told that the records do not show him casting a vote in 2016.
“I don’t know. Maybe I didn’t,” he said. “I don’t know that. I thought I did to be honest with you.”
Graham said he message is still loud and clear whether he voted for Trump in 2016 or not.
“I vote. If I missed that and I misspoke, I misspoke. The thought still has not changed,” he said.
The revelation prompted the Times to add an “editor’s note” to its two pieces that featured Graham. “After this article was published, local news media reported that Mark Graham did not vote in the 2016 election. The Times has confirmed that Mr. Graham did not vote in the election.While Mr. Graham acknowledged misspeaking about his voting record, he said the article accurately reflects his feelings about the 2016 race and President Trump’s performance in office.”
So, let’s unpack that. First, the paper didn’t issue a correction for the glaring error. And second, the Times says that although Graham misspoke (uh, lied) about his voting record, the article “reflects” how he felt about the election (in which he didn’t vote).
And for the record, the American Bridge PAC continues to run the ad, which is still up on its website.
The Trump campaign mocked American Bridge in a Twitter post on Friday.
“Well, well,” tweeted Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh. “Guy who says he voted for Trump and now regrets it … didn’t actually vote for Trump. In fact, didn’t vote at all in 2016. It’s cool, though. Democrats at American Bridge (liberal PAC) still put him in an ad and won’t take it down.”
The Republican Party of Pennsylvania also called for the PAC to remove the ad.
“The ad is false, its premise is false and it’s messenger has been discredited,” state Republican Chairman Lawrence Tabas said in a statement. “The organization could easily have determined that Graham had not voted in 2016 by checking the publicly available records at the Erie County elections office.”