A television ad from Republican Joe Teirab’s campaign for 2nd Congressional District starts out with biographical information about Teirab, including growing up in Minnesota, serving in the Marines and as a federal prosecutor in Minneapolis.

“I’m Joe Teirab. I was born and raised in Minnesota. My story starts in a small town,” the ad says, with Teirab narrating. Later he says, “So I joined the Marines and deployed to Iraq. Then I served as a federal prosecutor locking up Minnesota’s worst criminals.”

All of that information is accurate. Teirab did deploy to Iraq with the Marines, but did not see combat. He also served as a federal prosecutor and was on the legal team that prosecuted the “Feeding our Future” case.

However, after the biographic information, the ad veers into misleading and false information.

“Now I’m running for U.S. Congress because career politicians like Angie Craig are killing the American dream with skyrocketing inflation, open borders, insider deals, and corruption,” Teirab says in the ad.

The video shows Teirab jogging through the Twin Cities, passing by a brick wall where a graphic says, “20% inflation, open borders, insider deals” and “corruption.” All of that is listed below Angie Craig’s name.

We’ll take these claims one at a time.

First, overall inflation in the United States in the past few years peaked at 9.1% in July 2022 and is currently about 2.5%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. It is false to say inflation reached 20% at any time while Craig has been in office. Inflation did spike to 9.1% for a variety of reasons, including federal government spending.

Economists say several other factors were also at play, including supply chain issues and other factors stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ad also appears to blame Craig for border problems and illegal immigration. However, the non-partisan website “Vote Smart” highlights several bills regarding immigration where Craig is among relatively few Democrats who side with Republicans.

One exception is a vote against a clearly political resolution in July that said, in part: The House of Representatives “strongly condemns the Biden Administration and its Border Czar, Kamala Harris’s, failure to secure the United States border; affirms that the American people deserve elected officials who understand the gravity of the crisis at the border and who will execute the policies to fix the border crisis; and clearly and firmly states that the continuation of the Biden, Harris border policies would be disastrous for both the United States and the American people.”

Only six Democrats voted in favor of that. Craig was not among them.

However, in May, Craig was among just 15 Democrats who voted in favor of a slightly less political resolution that, in part, “acknowledges that United States law enforcement officers are bravely facing dangers and challenges every day that are exacerbated by the unprecedented crisis at the border, which affects the entire country; condemns the open border crisis that President Joe Biden, “Border Czar” Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, and other Biden administration officials have willingly created along the southwest border; urges the Biden administration, and State and local elected officials, to encourage and support dedicated law enforcement officers so those officers can protect the homeland, their cities, counties, or States, and restore law and order…”

Also in May, Craig voted in favor of legislation that, according to Vote Smart, “requires the Department of Homeland Security to take custody of any non-U.S. national who meets certain inadmissibility criteria and is arrested for, is charged with, is convicted of, or admits to assaulting a law enforcement officer, firefighter, or other first responder.” Craig was among 54 Democrats to vote in favor of that bill, while another 148 voted against it.

As for the vague assertion that Craig is involved in “insider deals” and “corruption,” she has not been accused of either.

Based on all the information we’ve reviewed, this ad from Republican Joe Teirab’s campaign gets a “D” on the 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS “Truth Test.”