Stephanie Anderson, who served as Cumberland County’s district attorney for almost 30 years, announced this week that she is entering the race — but plans to drop out if the current district attorney loses the Democratic primary.

Anderson said Thursday that she supports challenger Valerie Adams, who announced last fall that she was running against Jacqueline Sartoris. Adams said in a statement that she believes Sartoris “lacks the experience and leadership skills necessary for the position of district attorney.”

Sartoris has been district attorney since 2023, after winning the Democratic primary a year earlier and running unopposed. She replaced Jonathan Sahrbeck, who was elected after Anderson stepped down.

Anderson, currently a Cape Elizabeth town councilor, has been unenrolled for several years, she said, but ran as a Republican when she was district attorney. She also ran for the Maine Senate in 2020.

Sartoris, referencing Anderson’s political history, argued that electing her would set the district back after several of what Sartoris said were major progressive reforms.

“There’s been a lot of learning since 1990 when Stephanie was first elected,” Sartoris said in an interview Thursday. “The approach that we’re taking, to be ‘smart on crime,’ will make a much bigger difference in the lives of Cumberland County. I absolutely stand by the work we’re doing.”

Anderson said that the race isn’t about politics, adding she was approached two weeks ago by several lifelong Democrats who she said asked her to consider running.

“Jackie can say ‘She was a Republican in 1990’ — but you know what? I was a Republican, and I was elected as district attorney seven times in an overwhelmingly Democratic county,” Anderson said Thursday.

Both Adams and Anderson have accused Sartoris of running a toxic workplace, not being present in the office, and being hard to get a hold of for staff and attorneys who work with the district attorney’s office. Sartoris has denied these allegations, and said in a statement Thursday that “Adams is running a campaign of misinformation and petty personal attacks.”

Responding to Anderson’s decision to run, Sartoris touted recent changes in her office, including launching a sex crimes prosecution team, and securing a $2.5 million federal grant to test older rape kits. The county recently entered an agreement that will allow for more restorative justice offerings in court, Sartoris has said, and she is working on changes to the mental health docket.

“This has become a race about whether or not we’re going to continue with prosecution reform,” Sartoris said. “Are we going to support real reforms that work, or are we going to go back to stale policy?”

Anderson said she employed many similar initiatives during her tenure, including restorative justice options, citing an incident involving a group of high school seniors who she said broke into their school, slathered peanut butter on door handles, and removed ceiling tiles from a classroom. They signed contracts for community service, allowing all but one to avoid facing charges.

“I also said no more pranks,” Anderson said, “and as far as I know, that was the last senior prank at the high school.”

Anderson said she also secured the state’s first adult drug treatment court.

“I’m really not running on anything right now, because I have to wait and see what happens on June 9,” Anderson said, referencing the upcoming primary election. “But I’ve got 28 years of history and experience. I’ve got a lot of people supporting me, a lot of defense attorneys, a lot of prosecutors.”

In her own statement, Adams, who interned when Anderson oversaw the Cumberland County office, cited case number data from the judicial branch, in which new filings every year under Sartoris are slightly higher than what her predecessor, Sahrbeck, had filed in 2022. She also pointed out that adult drug court enrollment has dropped in Cumberland County.

Sartoris said that “judges – not my office – make those decisions.”

Adams worked under Sartoris for about nine months, and was fired last year after telling Sartoris of her plans to run. Sartoris said previously that she fired Adams because the latter had brought a defense attorney and former candidate for the position, Jon Gale, to that meeting, where they asked Sartoris not to run.

Adams is currently working as a defense attorney representing low-income defendants.