Houston Chronicle

City Councilman Stephen Costello is poised to be the first mayoral candidate with ads on network TV.

- By Rebecca Elliott rebecca.elliott@chron.com twitter.com/rfelliott

With three weeks of broadcast ads slated to begin airing next Tuesday, City Councilman Stephen Costello is poised to be the first Houston mayoral candidate up on network television, kicking off what is expected to be an expensive pre-election advertisin­g slog.

Earlier this week, Costello purchased about $173,000 of broadcast time, or 176 spots, on three Houston-area channels, Federal Communicat­ions Commission records show.

The 30-second introducto­ry ad to focus on infrastruc­ture, public safety and city finances is scheduled to run Aug. 25-Sept. 14 on KPRC-Channel 2; Aug. 25-31 on KTRK-Channel 13; and Sept. 1-14 on KHOU-Channel 11.

Spokesman Ward Curtin said the campaign also reserved time on KRIV-Channel 26, though FCC records do not list the purchase.

“Thanks to our fundraisin­g, we’re in a great position to define the narrative,” Curtin said. “There’s a huge pool of undecided voters out there, and we’re the only ones communicat­ing with them.”

Costello’s move to network television comes more than a week after state Rep. Sylvester Turner made the first broadcast buy of the cycle, reserving about $450,000 of time on five local channels beginning in late September.

Rice University political scientist Mark Jones said he expects this to be the first of several broadcast buys from Costello.

“While Costello’s money is at the top, his name recognitio­n is not, so he has quite a bit of ground to make up against some of his principal rivals,” said Jones, who included Turner, former Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia and 2013 mayoral runner-up Ben Hall.

Costello, who observers say is competing with former Kemah Mayor Bill King for conservati­ve votes, closed out the first half of the year with more than $1.3 million in the bank, trailing Garcia by $7,423.

King and Costello both ventured onto cable television early, with introducto­ry ads going up in May and July, respective­ly, mostly in reliably Republican areas of the city.

Comcast records show Costello also has about $27,000 worth of cable ads scheduled to run through mid-September.

With candidates taking in more than $7 million in the first half of the year, this year’s mayoral race is on track to be the most expensive in recent city history, suggesting Houstonian­s can expect to hear an abundance of television and radio advertisin­g as the election nears.

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