Why Wendy Davis' biographical embellishments won't sink her campaign

A politician exaggerated her biography. In other news, water is wet.

Wendy Davis
(Image credit: (AP Photo/LM Otero, File))

Wendy Davis is not exactly who she said she was. The Texas State Senator and Democratic gubernatorial candidate, who rose to national prominence by mounting a filibuster of a controversial abortion law, embellished some details of her life story, according to a weekend article from the Dallas Morning News.

Davis had cast herself as a single teenage mom who worked multiple jobs to put herself through Harvard Law School. As it turns out, the story was a bit more complicated: She married a lawyer who paid for her time at Harvard, and when they divorced, he gained custody of their kids, including Davis' daughter from a previous marriage.

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Jon Terbush

Jon Terbush is an associate editor at TheWeek.com covering politics, sports, and other things he finds interesting. He has previously written for Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, and Business Insider.