The gloves came off Friday in the race to represent Colorado’s toss-up 8th Congressional District.

U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo, the Democratic incumbent, and state Rep. Gabe Evans, her Republican challenger, each released TV ads Friday morning focusing on border security — and by early afternoon, both candidates had accused their opponent of lying.

Caraveo, a pediatrician and former state lawmaker, won the newly created seat two years ago by just over 1,600 votes in one of the closest congressional races in the country. This year, the district — stretching from suburbs north of Denver to Greeley in parts of Weld County — is considered Colorado’s most competitive contest and could determine which party controls the U.S. House.

The candidates’ commercials join a pair of attack ads launched this week by the national Democratic and Republican House campaign committees, respectively. The Democrats’ ad takes aim at Evans’ record  supporting an abortion ban, and the Republicans’ ad blames Caraveo for numerous woes associated with the recent influx of immigrants into Colorado.

Running on broadcast TV, cable and digital platforms, the two new 30-second ads both depict local peace officers and elected officials vouching for their respective candidate’s determination to crack down on issues surrounding immigration, including crime, illicit drugs and overburdened law enforcement.

“Here’s the truth: Gabe Evans is lying about my record,” Caraveo tweeted on Friday. “In Congress, I’m focused on real solutions — not political games. That’s why I’ll keep working across the aisle to secure the border, stop the flow of fentanyl, and pass immigration reform.”

Attached to the Democrat’s post was Caraveo’s new ad, which features Adams County Sheriff Gene Claps extolling Caraveo’s record addressing the border crisis and charges Evans with bending the truth on the topic.

“As the sheriff, I know lies when I hear them,” Claps says in the ad. “And Gabe Evans’ attacks are just not true.”

Saying Caraveo “knows how broken immigration is, just like we do,” the sheriff credits his fellow Democrat with crossing party lines to fund thousands of additional border patrol agents and to crack down on cartels, as well breaking with her party to support “tougher fentanyl penalties.”

Adds Claps: “Gabe Evans is playing politics, but Caraveo is finding solutions. And that’s the truth.”

Caraveo’s campaign manager, Mary Alice Blackstock, said in a statement that the ad is a “necessary opportunity to push back on Gabe Evans’ lies and set the record straight” on Caraveo’s bipartisan approach to tackle the “broken immigration system.”

“Voters are sick and tired of partisan gridlock and political games, and Gabe Evans would just be another rubber stamp for extreme Republicans’ do-nothing agenda in Washington,” Blackstock said.

Surrounded by local police and sheriff’s deputies — including Republican state Rep. Ryan Armagost, a retired Larimer County sheriff’s deputy — Evans tells a different story in his ad.

“Our border is a mess, and we’re dealing with the consequences — drugs and crime are flowing into our community, and Yadira Caraveo is responsible for it all,” the officers and Evans say.

Declaring he knows “how to fix it,” Evans describes his background as an Army combat veteran and 10-year tenure as an Arvada police officer.

“We’ve got to stop the liberal border crisis,” Evans says.

Evans blasted Caraveo in a statement accompanying the ad’s release for what he characterized as his opponent’s “open-border, soft-on-crime policies.”

“In Congress, I’ll make securing the border job one on Day One,” Evans said.

Caraveo’s campaign manager branded Evans’ new ad a “misleading attack to try and distract voters from Congresswoman Caraveo’s track record of bipartisan work.”

Despite serving in a divided Congress, Blackstock said in an emailed statement, Caraveo has worked with Democratic and Republican lawmakers to support legislation to address problems surrounding the border.

Blackstock added that her boss will “continue to work with anyone to secure the border, stop the flow of fentanyl, and pass immigration reform.”

Evans told Colorado Politics that his opponent’s new ad “takes top prize” in the competition to hoodwink voters.

“Her desperate ad using a Democrat-elected politician to attack me might be the biggest whopper of them all,” Evans said in an emailed statement. “She cannot defend the indefensible, so she lies. Yadira Caraveo’s open-border and go-easy-on-criminals and drug dealers record is clear, and it’s putting the lives and safety of Coloradans at risk.”

Evans added that he is proud to have an endorsement from the Colorado Fraternal Order of Police.