One of the Republicans challenging U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn in Colorado’s primary election has asked TV and radio stations to stop airing the incumbent’s campaign ads, charging they contain “outrageously false and defamatory” statements.

State Rep. Dave Williams also filed a criminal complaint with District Attorney Michael Allen on Thursday, calling for an investigation into whether Lamborn’s attack ads violate a Colorado law that prohibits “knowingly or recklessly” circulating false information meant to influence an election. A spokesman for Allen said Wiliams’ complaint is under review.

Lamborn’s campaign went on the air last week with radio and TV ads that say Williams was “fired” by former President Donald Trump’s Colorado campaign. The TV ad also claims the three-term state lawmaker sponsored legislation to divert funds from law enforcement to organizations that support abortion and defunding the police.

Calling the ads’ claims a “bald-faced lie,” Williams accused the eight-term congressman of attempting to deflect attention from his record and an ongoing ethics investigation into allegations Lamborn misused his office for personal gain.

“We intend to have these false ads taken down and for Lamborn to be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” James T. Cook, the Williams campaign’s attorney, said in a statement.

A spokeswoman for Lamborn’s campaign declined to comment.

Williams is one of three Republicans running in the 5th Congressional District to unseat Lamborn, along with Rebecca Keltie and Andrew Heaton. Two Democrats – Michael Colombe and David Torres – are running in their party’s primary for the seat.

Ballots started going in the mail to most Colorado voters on Monday and are due back to county clerks by 7 p.m. June 28.

Williams refutes the assertions made in Lamborn’s ads in an email sent Monday to Fox News Channel and station management at local Colorado Springs network affiliates and a handful of radio stations.

“Broadcast licensees have a legal and moral responsibility to assess and dismiss any false, misleading, or deceptive materials contained in advertising,” Cook, the lawyer representing Williams and his campaign, wrote. “You are urged to recognize Mr. Lamborn’s blatant disregard for the truth, and we respectfully demand that your station and platform refuse to air this false advertisement.”

The station manager at KRDO told Williams in an email obtained by Colorado Politics that the station wouldn’t be pulling Lamborn’s ads, saying his hands are tied because federal rules bars broadcast stations from removing ads placed by federal candidates.

“I understand your frustration but in the future if you want to be able to [p]ull a candidate ad you need Congress to change the law,” KRDO general manager Mark D. Pimentel wrote.

KOAA general manager Ross White had a similar response, citing FCC rules.

“We are required to air the spot as is,” he told Williams.

Station management at KKTV and Fox21 didn’t immediately respond to Colorado Politics’ requests for comment.

While Lamborn’s ads don’t include citations – and his campaign didn’t respond to requests for material to support the ads’ allegations – the charge that Williams was let go by the Trump campaign appears to be referencing a June 2020 incident reported by Colorado Politics, when local Trump campaign officials “severed ties” with Williams after he identified himself as a “Trump surrogate” in an endorsement in a hotly contested legislative primary.

“Rep. Williams never received a paycheck, accepted an official title from the Trump Administration or his presidential campaign, or was formally employed by the Trump Campaign,” Cook told the stations. “No employment records exist; therefore, it is impossible for Rep. Williams to be ‘fired’ from an employment arrangement that didn’t occur.”

The email to broadcast officials also claims that Lamborn’s description of bills introduced by Williams in 2021 and 2022 distorts the facts.

“Instead of helping law enforcement keep us safe,” the narrator of Lamborn’s TV ad says, “the fines would go to pro-abortion groups like Planned Parenthood and groups supporting ‘defund the police,’ like Black Lives Matter.”

The bills, which were killed early in the process by the state House’s majority Democrats, would have allowed anyone receiving a minor traffic ticket resulting from a red-light camera to pay their fine to qualified nonprofits.

“Nowhere in this bill was Planned Parenthood or Black Lives Matter mentioned or included in the proposed language,” Williams’ lawyer said. “Representative Williams’ proposed bill did not fund, propose to fund, or create an avenue to fund Planned Parenthood or Black Lives Matter by diverting dollars away from Law Enforcement.”

The Colorado law cited by Williams and his lawyer makes it a misdemeanor to communicate a false statement “designed to affect the vote” in an election. The law is often invoked by candidates but doesn’t appear to have been prosecuted in the nearly 20 years it’s been on the books.

A recent local example involved a Colorado Springs city council member who claimed her challenger was spreading lies ahead of the 2017 election about a vote the incumbent supposedly cast at a meeting of the Colorado Municipal League, even though it turned out she hadn’t attended the meeting.

Allen’s predecessor as district attorney, Dan May, declined to file charges, saying his office couldn’t prove the false information was circulated “knowingly or recklessly.”

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect that Williams filed a criminal complaint with the El Paso County district attorney, which is under review.