INDIANAPOLIS — With the onslaught of political ads heading into the primaries next week, one ad could result in a law signed in Indiana just weeks ago soon being put to the test.

Indiana’s 3rd Congressional District race is a crowded one, with eight Republicans vying for Rep. Jim Banks’s seat. With just days to go before the Indiana Primaries, one of those candidates said an attack ad against them launched this week used not only misleading tactics, but illegal ones.

This week, the Wendy Davis for Congress campaign sent a cease and desist to the conservative Super PAC Club for Growth Action over an ad the campaign said is misleading.

A statement from the Davis Campaign released on Wednesday reads as follows:

“Today, the Wendy Davis for Congress campaign issued a Cease and Desist for the Club for Growth ad released yesterday that falsely claimed Judge Davis instituted “woke race based hiring practices.” The dishonest ad dubs together words and unrelated statements from throughout an hour and 14 minute panel to form a sentence that fits their absurd claims.

Judge Davis participated in the panel advocating for religious freedom in her capacity as a Judge in 2020. Club for Growth PAC supports Davis’s opponent, failed career politician Marlin Stutzman.

It’s laughable to call me a “Liberal Judge” – I forfeited my position on the bench to run for office because I was too conservative to maintain the neutrality the job requires. I am disappointed that Club for Growth spliced my words together to fit their fake narrative in support of a failed, career politician who took campaign funds for a personal vacation, but I know the people of Northeast Indiana can recognize a dubbed statement when they hear it and know that I am an unabashed conservative who will work with Donald Trump and fight to bring back a strong America in Congress.”

A spokesperson for Club for Growth Action acknowledged the ad contained spliced bits of audio from a religious freedom panel that Judge Davis was a part of in 2020. However, the group argues the spirit of her comments remained the same. An audio clip that has not been spliced contained the following quote from Davis:

“When I look even in our government today, we don’t have enough inclusion that I believe the Constitution requires me, I work in the government, to do,” Davis said.

Another clip of Davis from that panel that was not spliced showed her saying the Constitution is a “breathing and living document.”

“Wendy Davis has expressed her strong opinion on diversity and that she believes the Constitution is a ‘breathing and living document,’ but now she’s trying to rewrite history to cover up her past leftist woke statements,” David McIntosh, Club for Growth Action President, said.

This comes just weeks after Indiana passed a law requiring campaign ads to show a disclaimer if they use digitally altered media that “conveys a materially inaccurate depiction of the individual’s speech…as recorded in the unaltered recording.”

AI/digital media expert Doug Kouns (the CEO of Veracity IIR) said he anticipates claims under this law will increase over time, but that the law as is could be extremely difficult to enforce given ever-evolving technology.

”Usually, the burden of proof is that you did something, not that you didn’t do it, but it’s kinda backward in this,” Kouns said.

A statement from Davis’s campaign manager reads as follows:

“Splicing someone’s words together without their consent to fit your agenda is wrong, but it’s also illegal in the state of Indiana. We are pursuing any and all legal measures to have this false ad removed from the airwaves.”