BATON ROUGE, La. -- The first television ad in Louisiana's U.S. Senate race was launched Wednesday by Democratic incumbent Mary Landrieu, focusing on her experience in Washington and an earmark she co-sponsored for military vehicles.

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In the ad, Landrieu talks of $18 million she helped attach to adefense spending bill, money that paid for armored security vehicle production by a Slidell factory. The vehicles are used by American troops in Iraq, and a veteran in the ad says they protect soldiers from roadside bombs.

"When production was threatened, Landrieu reached across party lines to get millions so this Louisiana factory could keep making these armored SVs," a narrator in the ad says.

The ad, running statewide, also touts Landrieu's seniority in the Senate, a theme for her campaign as Louisiana's clout in Congress has dwindled with several longtime lawmakers retiring in recent years.

A spokesman for Republican candidate John Kennedy said voters want change, rather than seniority.

"Mary Landrieu is the only person in the entire country, much less Louisiana, who thinks Washington is working for us. While voters demand change, Mary Landrieu defends the status quo and the Washington way of doing business as usual," Lenny Alcivar said in response to the Landrieu ad.

Landrieu is seeking a third term. The general election is Nov. 4.