SALT LAKE CITY — After a summer of seemingly nonstop TV commercials for Republicans seeking to fill the congressional vacancy left by former Rep. Jason Chaffetz, the Democratic candidate in the race has hit the airwaves.

But the 60-second spot from Cottonwood Heights physician Kathie Allen never mentions her party affiliation, instead focusing on what she says is a need to "drop the partisanship" in dealing with health care.

"I'm not even sure that was particularly deliberate," Allen said Tuesday of not identifying herself as the Democratic candidate in the special election being held in November for the remainder of Chaffetz's term.

"I just think that sometimes labels can really obfuscate a message. I mean, I'm not ashamed of being a Democrat," she said. "The message of the ad was that we should get beyond labels and come together in this country to solve problems."

Allen's commercial, airing on local TV stations for more than a week, is the first in the race since the divisive Aug. 15 GOP primary that brought around $900,000 in spending by outside groups on largely negative advertising.

Provo Mayor John Curtis, the target of much of the negative campaigning, won the Republican nomination over former state lawmaker Chris Herrod and Alpine lawyer Tanner Ainge.

Curtis spokesman Danny Laub was critical in a statement of what he suggested was another omission in Allen's TV commercial — her support for universal access to publicly funded health care.

"Democrat Kathie Allen is free to spend her campaign money however she likes, but she's not being straight with Utahns about how her far-left ideas, like single-payer health care, would hurt citizens here in Utah," Laub said.

The new United Utah Party's candidate in the race, Jim Bennett, said he believes Allen left that out of the commercial "because she recognizes the solution she favors is not a solution voters in the 3rd District would be willing to support."

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The 3rd District, which includes portions of Utah and Salt Lake counties, as well as Carbon, Emery, Grand, San Juan and Wasatch counties, is one of the most Republican congressional districts in the country.

It's been 20 years since a Democrat represented Utah's 3rd District. Chaffetz, first elected in 2008, announced earlier this year he was leaving Congress to spend more time with his family. He left office June 30 and is now a Fox News contributor.

Allen said she's not trying to hide her platform. She said her campaign website was just updated to spell out her "treatment plan" for health care, starting with fixes to the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

"Anybody who wants to can read that I am for universal health care," Allen said. As for leaving that out of the commercial, she said it was just a minute long. "Didn't I say that I think everyone deserves health care?"

The commercial shows Allen in a white lab coat, interacting with patients she describes as not being "the faces of Democrats or Republicans" but "people who love each other, who pray together."

The shot of a family kneeling in prayer "is a scene that will look very familiar to voters in the 3rd District," said Chris Karpowitz, co-director of the BYU Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy.

Karpowitz said the commercial is a sophisticated attempt to introduce Allen to voters "while trying to simultaneously avoid partisan labels. And that's important, too, given that a Democrat is going to be at a disadvantage in this district."

He said it not only appeals to Democrats who want to continue health care for Americans now covered under the plan championed by former President Barack Obama, but also to independents and moderate Republicans.

"Even in a very red state, causing millions of people to lose health insurance is not a popular stance," Karpowitz said. But he said Allen's opponents are also making efforts to reach beyond political party lines.

Curtis was seen as the more moderate candidate in the GOP primary, and Bennett's new party was formed to bridge the gap between disaffected Republicans and Democrats, Karpowitz said.

"It's a crowded space right now," he said, and as the general election campaign gets underway, Allen should expect her opponents to "push back in ways that make her seem more liberal."

Defining herself as a candidate

University of Utah political science professor Matthew Burbank said Allen is taking advantage of the opportunity to define herself as a candidate before Curtis and any of the other candidates in the race focus on her.

"It's not as if she can run as a stealth candidate and no one will know what party she's with," Burbank said. But he said health care is an issue where Allen has credibility because of her years as a family physician.

And that helps viewers see the commercial as "about her and not make it so much about party," Burbank said. "If people watch those ads and think, 'That's a positive message and I agree with her,' that ad has done its job."

Allen's campaign is spending nearly $13,000 on TV airtime. She raised nearly $729,000 by midyear, according to her most recent filing with the Federal Election Commission, money she didn't have to spend in a primary election.

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