A national Republican group released a TV ad Wednesday attacking U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo by blaming the Thornton Democrat for problems tied to the recent influx of immigrants into Colorado.

Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC aligned with House Republican leadership, says in the 30-second spot that after promising she wouldn’t play “partisan games,” Caraveo has routinely voted with fellow Democrats since she got to Washington, including last year against the GOP’s signature border bill.

“Congresswoman Caraveo said she’d fix things,” the ad’s narrator says. “But she’s only making things worse”

Caraveo, a pediatrician and former state lawmaker, is seeking a second term in the toss-up 8th Congressional District, which stretches from suburbs north of Denver to Greeley. She’s facing a challenge from state Rep. Gabe Evans, R-Fort Lupton, in a race both major parties call crucial to deciding which holds the gavel in the House in the next Congress.

A Caraveo campaign spokeswoman ripped the ad as an attempt to fool voters by distorting the incumbent’s approach to border security and immigration reform, including Caraveo’s support for a comprehensive bipartisan bill Republicans spiked to score political points.

The ad, set to air on cable and broadcast TV and digital platforms, is part of $5.25 million in advertising booked in the Denver market this summer by the Republican committee. Last week, CLF boosted its ad reservations in multiple districts, including adding $150,000 to the funds earmarked to attack Caraveo.

Adding up both parties’ spending commitments, as much as $13 million in outside money could flood the district’s screens over the next two months.

CLF’s Democratic counterpart, House Majority PAC, hit the air a day earlier with an ad blasting Evans for supporting an abortion ban, featuring a local OB-GYN who called the Republican “too extreme for Colorado.”

The ad targeting Caraveo links the Democrat’s 2023 vote against HR 2 to strained hospitals, overwhelmed law enforcement, crowded schools and the fentanyl crisis.

The legislation passed narrowly along party lines in the House, with two Republicans joining every Democrat in opposition, and fizzled in the Senate.

“Democrats’ far-left agenda has triggered an illegal immigration crisis, let crime run wild, and made everyday life unaffordable. And not only will Democrats not accept responsibility, they want even more power,” said Courtney Parella, CLF’s communications director, in a statement announcing the group’s first wave of ads, hitting Democrats in nearly a dozen swing seats nationwide.

Mary Alice Blackstock, Caraveo’s campaign manager, predicted the attacks will fall flat.

“Colorado voters are too smart to be fooled by extremist Gabe Evans and his allies who are working overtime to distort Congresswoman Caraveo’s record of bipartisanship on border security and immigration reform,” Blackstock said in an emailed statement.

“Let’s be clear: It was Republicans who killed the most comprehensive, bipartisan border security and immigration reform package of the past decade for purely political reasons,” Blackstock said.

“While Gabe Evans would be a rubber stamp for extreme Republicans’ do nothing agenda in Washington, Congresswoman Caraveo remains ready to work in a bipartisan way to secure the border, stop the flow of fentanyl and illegal drugs, and fix our broken immigration system.”

Earlier this year, Republicans tanked a bipartisan Senate immigration bill at the urging of former President Donald Trump, who drew criticism from some GOP lawmakers for his role in blowing apart the deal.

“The border is a very important issue for Donald Trump,” Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney said in January. “And the fact that he would communicate to Republican senators and Congress people that he doesn’t want us to solve the border problem — because he wants to blame Biden for it — is really appalling.”

Caraveo’s campaign pointed to a bipartisan package of immigration bills the Democrat sponsored and co-sponsored this spring.

“This comprehensive plan would deliver funding to interior cities like Denver that are in need of support, reduce the financial burden placed on local governments, and stem the flow of illegal drugs into the U.S.,” Caraveo said in a statement. “It would also deliver much-needed funding to law enforcement both at the border and here in Colorado.”

Parella, the Republican group’s spokeswoman, said the new ads highlight Democrats’ failures to deliver.

“This November, voters face a clear choice: restore sanity and economic strength or double down on Washington Democrats and their out-of-touch priorities,” she said.

Mail ballots start going out to most Colorado voters in just over four weeks and are due back to county clerks by 7 p.m. Nov. 5.