State Rep. Barry Finegold (D) began airing his first TV ad in the race to replace Rep. Marty Meehan (D) on Wednesday.

One of five Democrats vying in the Sept. 4 5th district primary, Finegold jumped out of the gate with a lighthearted 30-second spot.

In the commercial produced by Washington, D.C.-based media firm Strother-Duffy-Strother, people cross the screen and simultaneously tell a fictitious lawmaker to end the Iraq War, among other things.

Standing in the foreground, Finegold says: “Politicians — they just keep dancing to their own tune” while a man in a suit exaggeratedly dances behind Finegold.

“They just don’t listen,” he says, ticking off the war, the environment and health care as issues Congress promised to address but hasn’t.

In terms of fundraising, Niki Tsongas (D), wife of the late Sen. Paul Tsongas (D-Mass.), leads the pack of nine candidates hoping to win the Oct. 16 special election.

She ended the second quarter with more than $560,000 in the bank.

Finegold was not far behind. He had $450,000 in his war chest as of July 1.

Two Republicans and two Independents round out the field, but the winner of the Democratic primary is the prohibitive favorite to complete Meehan’s eighth term.

Meehan left the House on July 1 to become chancellor of the University of Massachusetts- Lowell.

— Nicole Duran