Congressional candidate Erica Smith says some broadcasters have stopped airing an attack ad that makes “blatantly false accusations” to question her Democratic Party bona fides.

UPDATE: The organization that paid for the political commercial disputes the Smith campaign's claims. See related story: Pro-Israel group says ad targeting Erica Smith hasn't been pulled

Smith’s campaign said Monday that the Democratic Majority for Israel’s political action committee known as DMFI PAC produced the ad, which sought to paint her as too cozy with Republicans.

“The ad was taken down due to blatantly false accusations of Erica of having endorsed a Trump Republican and been bankrolled by Republicans in 2020 during her Senate run,” a news release states.

The campaign didn’t specify whether the commercial aired on television or radio. The release says “multiple stations across the district” have pulled the ad from their rotations, presumably at Smith’s request.

Smith’s camp said the ad was produced in support of state Sen. Don Davis, her main rival in the 1st Congressional District primary. The PAC endorsed Davis in March.

“Erica Smith has been a Democratic county party chair, school board member and state Senator, and has spent two decades working to elect Democrats up and down the ballot in North Carolina,” her news release states. “She’s the only candidate in this race with a record of actually voting like a Democrat. We’re grateful to the stations that have taken swift action to get these lies off the air.”

Smith and Davis are the presumptive front-runners in a four-candidate primary field that also includes Jason Spriggs, a Henderson city councilman, and Julian C. Bishop, a Nash County law enforcement and military veteran.

Democratic U.S. Reps. Andy Levin of Michigan and Ro Khanna of California have endorsed Smith, her campaign announced Tuesday, joining a list of progressive backers whose biggest name is Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

“This is a critical moment to stand up for our democracy and for our fundamental rights,” Levin said in a prepared statement. “I am proud to endorse Erica Smith for North Carolina’s 1st District. Far too often, pro-choice, working-class Black women are asked to do so much of the labor and rarely given the chance to lead.”