GOP mayoral hopeful John Catsimatidis is making a major ad buy — showing his opponents he won’t be a pushover in the upcoming primary.
The billionaire supermarket mogul will launch a 60-second ad on cable television today, an aide said. It’ll run him “hundreds of thousands of dollars,” the aide added.
The spot will focus on the Gristedes CEO’s upbringing as a poor immigrant and will contain other biographical information to help him connect with outer-borough voters.
After its cable run, the ad will be extended to broadcast TV.
Meanwhile, Catsimatidis’ main Republican rival, former MTA chief Joe Lhota, will also air a new ad this week.
Adam Goodman, a political consultant who once worked for Lhota’s old boss, ex-Mayor Rudy Giuliani, produced the Catsimatidis advertisement.
Lhota is currently considered the favorite in the Republican primary, but contested GOP primaries for mayor are rare.
Only 70,000 GOP voters — less than 20 percent of New York City’s 470,000 registered Republicans — are expected to go to the polls for the Sept. 10 primary.
And Republican State Chairman Ed Cox said the turnout could be as be as low as 50,000.