On Tuesday, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) launched a misleading attack ad targeting Republican Dutchess County Executive and congressional candidate Marc Molinaro, telling voters that he would support a nationwide abortion ban despite recent statements stating he would not.

The ad titled “Sad Truth” was sponsored by the DCCC and approved by Democratic Ulster County Executive and congressional candidate Patrick Ryan in an attempt to sway voters less than two weeks before the special election. However, the ad was shown days after a debate between the two candidates where Molinaro stated he would not support a nationwide ban on abortion.

“No, I don’t believe that after the Supreme Court decision that the federal government or Congress has much of a role [in regulating abortion] at all,” Molinaro said in a debate held on Aug. 5. Molinaro went on to say that the court required that the states now make those decisions, and in New York the right to access is “basically without limit.”

Despite Molinaro’s public declaration against such a measure, the DCCC launched their misleading ad stating that “Marc Molinaro and the Republicans are too extreme on women’s rights.”

“If Ryan has any respect for voters,” RNC spokeswoman Rachel Lee told the Daily Caller News Foundation, “he will retract his lies and apologize not only to Marc Molinaro but to New York.”

Molinaro and Ryan are vying to fill the seat vacated by new Democratic New York Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado in a special election being held on Aug. 23. The race is currently classified as a tossup on Ballotpedia, but the nonpartisan Sabato’s Crystal Ball gives the advantage to Molinaro.

“Pat Ryan is lying and he knows it,” Molinaro’s campaign manager Will Dawson told the DCNF. “Marc has stated he would not support a federal ban because the Supreme Court has returned this matter to the states.”

Dawson went on to say that the ad was an attempt to “distract voters from Joe Biden’s policies that have created an inflation crisis, record high gas prices, and rising crime in our communities.” Molinaro has repeatedly attacked President Joe Biden’s policies and the Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress.

“New Yorkers are so fed up with the toxic Democrat Party that the only way Pat Ryan can campaign is by ignoring the real issues and lying about his opponent,” National Republican Campaign Committee Spokeswoman Samantha Bullock told the DCNF. “Ryan has no answer for the skyrocketing prices plaguing New Yorkers.”

Ryan’s negative ad contradicts a pledge that he made in 2018 when he sought the Democratic nomination. “I’m actually really proud to be endorsed by and to have taken a pledge from a group called With Honor,” Ryan told a crowd in 2018, pledging to “bring integrity and positivity back to campaigning and not conduct negative campaigns.”

Ryan went on to say that those who embrace this negative type of campaigning create a “culture” that hurts “every single one of us.”

The Ryan campaign and the DCCC did not respond to requests for comment by the DCNF.