The Republican seeking to unseat incumbent Democrat Bob Menendez in the U-S Senate race in New Jersey is launching his first TV ad campaign.

The 30-second cable television commercial introduces the candidate to voters.

 “I’m Joe Kyrillos. I’m running for the United States Senate.”

The ad doesn’t detail specific policies. The campaign says that will come later.

Monmouth University political analyst Patrick Murray says the ad campaign is important for Kyrillos because a majority of voters aren’t familiar with him.

“The hope is that subconsciously the name Kyrillos just registers with voters so as the campaign gets in full swing in September that he can get over that hump.”

Murray says running those ads over the two week period when the Republican and Democratic  conventions are taking place should help Kyrillos.

“There isn’t a lot of political advertising happening right now so he’ll be able to cut through a little bit of the noise with his ad because he won’t be competing against too many other ads, but people will be tuned into politics so they might pay attention and register his name in the back of their mind.”