Vangie Williams Takes the ‘Pro-Truth’ Pledge

June 8, 2018

Contact: Sheri Shannon, [email protected]

Democratic Candidate Vangie Williams (VA-01) signs the Pro-Truth Pledge to “commit to truth-oriented behaviors and protect facts and civility.” The Pledge is an initiative to fight misinformation and advocate for truthfulness in public discourse.

“So many of our elected officials bend the truth or offer alternative facts to support their position,” said Williams. “Instead, leaders of integrity allow the truth and the facts that support the truth guide them to the best possible solutions for those they represent. I will do my best to serve the 1st District of Virginia in Congress with integrity, guided by truth.”

Williams, a professional problem solver for our federal government, is running on a common-sense platform to represent all people. This includes: creating an economy that works for everyone, healthy families with access to world-class healthcare and reinvesting in our communities, and hometown heroes.

“If we want to build a Virginia that’s representative of the people, we have to do it based on unity, not division,” noted Williams.

Tenets of the Pro-Truth Pledge include an earnest effort to:

Share truth

• Verify: fact-check information to confirm it is true before accepting and sharing it
• Balance: share the whole truth, even if some aspects do not support my opinion
• Cite: share my sources so that others can verify my information
• Clarify: distinguish between my opinion and the facts

Honor truth

• Acknowledge: acknowledge when others share true information, even when we disagree otherwise
• Reevaluate: reevaluate if my information is challenged, retract it if I cannot verify it
• Defend: defend others when they come under attack for sharing true information, even when we disagree otherwise
• Align: align my opinions and my actions with true information

Encourage truth

• Fix: ask people to retract information that reliable sources have disproved even if they are my allies
• Educate: compassionately inform those around me to stop using unreliable sources even if these sources support my opinion
• Defer: recognize the opinions of experts as more likely to be accurate when the facts are disputed
• Celebrate: celebrate those who retract incorrect statements and update their beliefs toward the truth

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