GRAND RAPIDS — The air wars in the 3rd Congressional race began in earnest this weekend with Democrat Patrick Miles buying time to accuse his Republican opponent, state Rep. Justin Amash, of exporting jobs.

The state Democratic party and its candidate for governor, Virg Bernero, are using the same line of attack against Republican Rick Snyder, claiming he was responsible for his former company, Gateway, shipping jobs to China.

The Miles TV ad, which began airing Friday night, criticizes Amash for ties to his family’s Chinese tool importing business.

“Justin co-owns a factory in China that manufactures the tools he sells in America,” the ad’s narrator says. “Justin is not a fighter for American jobs, he’s the creator of jobs in China.”

Amash’s campaign fired back sharply, saying the ad was built on a false premise — that he owns a factory in China — and is just another attempt to distort his record. Amash does not own, or co-own, any factories in China, campaign spokesman John Amash said Saturday.

He said the family’s company has staff in China to “facilitate trade” and “make sure we get what we’re looking for,” but said it has no manufacturing plant there.

According to his financial disclosure forms, Amash is a co-owner of Dynamic Source International, a Chinese company that supplies Michigan Industrial Tools Inc., his father’s Wyoming-based business.

“The Miles ad is flatly false,” John Amash said. “Justin does not have any ownership in any factory in China.”

John Amash said information on the website for Dynamic Source International was poorly translated and contained inaccurate information culled from different sources.

“Pat knows that being pro-choice and supporting higher taxes, unsustainable federal spending, and government-run health care will not win votes from most people in West Michigan, so he has resorted to making things up.”

John Amash said voters will recognize the difference in candidates.

“Negative ads, I suppose, work with some people, but on the whole, people realize that what (Miles) stands for is not in line with the majority of district voters. The other thing is, this is not the only thing — this is part of a series of false statements he’s made.”

Amy Fetherolf, spokeswoman for Miles, said: “We’re standing by our ad, obviously.”