First political advertisements for 2024 Elk Grove City Council races appear in mailboxes

n less than 11 months, Elk Grove voters will select their mayor and city council representatives for Districts 1 and 3. Accordingly, mail customers citywide received their first political advertisement in the last few days.

Elk Grove District 1 and 3 city council members Darren Suen and Kevin Sprease purchased advertisements in the 2024 Elk Grove Town Planner calendar. The print product started appearing in Elk Grove mailboxes this week.

Campaigning for his second term, Spease’s ads appear from July through November. Suen, appointed to the city council in 2015 and re-elected to four-year terms in 2016 and 2020, has his ad in September and October.

Like many print products affected by the move to digital media, the Town Planner did not sell out its ad space inventory. There are 10 empty spots filled with house ads.

While Town Planner had unsold inventory, research demonstrates calendars are one paper product that facilitates improved productivity compared to digital formats. In an interview on his research, Jay Yang, assistant professor of marketing at Cal State Fullerton’s College of Business and Economics, said paper calendars facilitate improved productivity because it “allows consumers to have a broader perspective and see the big picture of their scheduled activities.”

According to information on the Elk Grove city clerk’s webpage, there are no registered challengers to Spease and Suen as of today. Mayor Bobbie Singh-Allen, the third city council member on the 2024 ballot, did not purchase calendar space.