An advertising company based in Northern Colorado on Wednesday removed a billboard placed by a Democratic-aligned group targeting Republican U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans after a national GOP campaign group threatened legal action, calling the ad “demonstrably false.”

A spokeswoman for House Majority Forward, however, told Colorado Politics that the vendor pulled the billboard — which said Evans voted to cut Medicaid — due to qualms about being in the middle of a “political battle” rather than over the claim’s accuracy.

“Gabe Evans voted to cut Medicaid to give billionaires like him tax cuts,” the billboard said above an arrow pointing to a photo of billionaire White House advisor Elon Musk. “Tell Gabe Evans: Oppose Medicaid cuts.”

Republicans deny that a budget resolution approved on a party-line vote earlier this month includes any cuts to the federal health insurance program, though a nonpartisan congressional budget office report concluded that the steep spending cuts described in the Republicans’ legislation can’t be achieved without cutting Medicaid or Medicare.

Evans has said he opposes any cuts to Medicaid and insists that budget targets can be met by attacking waste and fraud in federal programs, including Medicaid.

The message targeting Evans went up last week on a digital billboard owned by Loveland-based Street Media Group off Interstate 25 near Firestone. It’s part of the Democratic-aligned group’s ongoing campaign attempting to tie vulnerable House Republicans to potential cuts to Medicaid resulting from a blueprint for the GOP budget making its way through Congress.

On Wednesday, the National Republican Congressional Committee sent a cease-and-desist letter to Street Media, stating that the company “will be liable for the defamatory messages disseminated to its viewers” if it continues to display the billboard. Hours later, the company’s general manager replied that the company had “addressed the concern” and taken down the ad, according to correspondence reviewed by Colorado Politics.

The billboard company didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. 

The NRCC last week persuaded a national company, Lamar Advertising Co., to take down similar billboards targeting four other House Republicans. This week, Link Media Outdoor agreed to remove a billboard with the same message featuring Nebraska Republican U.S. Rep. Don Bacon.

A spokesman for the NRCC told Colorado Politics that the Democrats’ “fearmongering” over Medicaid won’t work.

“Despite the disgusting effort by the liberal con artists at House Majority Forward to fool Coloradans, their billboards were taken down because all they can do is lie when they have no real message,” Zach Bannon said in an email.

“Their fearmongering tactics won’t work, and Coloradans will continue to reject the radical policies from out of touch Democrats.”

House Majority Forward said in a statement that the billboard came down because of the political climate, not its veracity.

“We have been informed that our factual billboard was taken down not due to facts, but due to the advertiser wanting to ‘avoid becoming part of a political battle,'” said Katarina Flicker, HMF’s national press secretary.

“We now live in a world where if you don’t agree with Donald Trump and Elon Musk, they will attack you and threaten your livelihood until you capitulate.”

HMF told Colorado Politics earlier this month that ads conveying a nearly identical message will continue to run on digital platforms.