As campaign season nears, politicians are turning up the volume on campaign rhetoric. To cut through the noise, we’re launching Campaign Context, a weekly series providing clarity on the messages you’re hearing from candidates on the campaign trail. We’re digging past the politics and into the facts to provide you with the transparent, spin-free information you need to make informed decisions this election season.

AUSTIN (KXAN) — On his recent podcast, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz went after President Joe Biden when it comes to inflation and the economy.

The U.S. senator, seeking reelection in 2024, said “‘Bidenomics’ is worse than ‘Jimmy Carternomics,'” referring to the high inflation seen during President Jimmy Carter’s administration from 1977 to 1981.

So has inflation been worse during the Biden administration? We pulled up the numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ consumer price index, the go-to indicator of inflation, and Cruz’s statement doesn’t hold up to the data

When Biden took office in January 2021, the annualized inflation rate was 1.4%. Then, it peaked in June 2022 at 9.1%. During the Carter administration, the inflation rate peaked in March 1980 at 14.6%, more than 5% higher than the worst inflation seen during Biden’s administration.