Career law enforcement official Frank Cassidy coasted to victory in the Republican primary for Merrimack County Sheriff, vaulting him to a general election contest against Democrat David Croft, the current sheriff and Cassidy’s former boss.

Cassidy easily beat his primary opponent, “libertarian-adjacent” convicted felon Jason Gerhard, winning 69% of the vote. Croft did not face a primary challenger in his race.

Croft and Cassidy overlapped in the sheriff’s office for three years, from 2020 to 2023, with Cassidy serving as an undercover officer in the Attorney General’s Drug Task Force, and Croft leading the 60-employee office.

Cassidy said he resigned last year because he didn’t like how Croft conducted his business.

“I think integrity needs to be brought back to that office,” Cassidy said in an interview during the primary.

Cassidy complained that when Croft became sheriff, he encouraged Cassidy to come into the county complex in Boscawen with greater frequency than he was comfortable due to his undercover status. But when Cassidy did come in, he said Croft wasn’t in his office.

Croft responded that he was “satisfied with the amount of times [Cassidy] came in” and said that his job “is to be out assisting my community,” rather than sitting behind a desk.

Cassidy also criticized Croft for failing to re-assign someone to his former role on the drug task force and for being slow to assist certain local police departments that were short-staffed.

Croft acknowledged that he hadn’t replaced Cassidy, but he said it was because the task force was currently being restructured. He declined to go into specifics about how he staffs the local departments, except to say that Cassidy’s claim was untrue.

“I have no idea why he wants to start this mudslinging, which I refuse to engage in,” Croft said late last month. “He and I had no bad relationship.”

Prior to joining the Merrimack County Sheriff’s office in 2002, Cassidy served in the Epsom and Loudon police departments and as a correctional officer at the state prison in Concord.

Gerhard, his primary opponent, was arrested in 2007 for aiding a Plainfield couple who refused to pay federal income tax. He served a 12-year federal prison sentence, before running and winning a seat in the state House of Representatives in 2022.

Gerhard held an expansive view for the sheriff’s office which involved investigating the IRS.

In New Hampshire, county sheriffs officially have only four powers enshrined in state law: They may investigate crimes, arrest people, enforce civil orders, and serve criminal and civil processes. Sheriffs do not run county jails, as they do in some other states.

Jeremy Margolis can be contacted at jmargolis@cmonitor.com.