BATON ROUGE (AP) - With only three weeks remaining before the election, the first television ad is running in Louisiana's secretary of state race.

  

Interim Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin launched his opening 30-second spot Monday, an ad his campaign says is running statewide ahead of the Nov. 6 special election.

  

In the ad, Ardoin positions himself as an incumbent in a job he's held only since May when Republican Tom Schedler resigned amid sexual harassment allegations. Ardoin describes nearly a decade of working to protect Louisiana elections. He doesn't mention he was working as first assistant to Schedler, rather than in the top position, during that time.

  

Ardoin is one of nine contenders in the race, but only a few will have enough money to purchase TV time to rally support from voters.