Assistant Hillsborough County Attorney Patricia LaFrance is battling her former boss, fellow Democrat Bob Walsh, for the right to take on LaFrance’s current boss, Hillsborough County Attorney Dennis Hogan, in November.

LaFrance said Hogan demoted her for political reasons this summer after she announced she would seek the Democratic nomination for county attorney, setting up a potential November showdown.

“There was no other explanation, which is his prerogative,” said LaFrance, 43, of Hollis.

Hogan, who faces no Republican primary on Tuesday, denied that LaFrance’s reassignment was politically motivated. He said he couldn’t give a specific reason because it was a personnel matter.

On Tuesday, voters will decide between LaFrance and Walsh, the former county attorney who was voted out of office two years ago when Hogan was elected.

Walsh, who lives in Manchester, has 30 years of experience as a lawyer, seven years as a prosecutor in Hillsborough County in the 1980s, according to previous newspaper accounts.

Walsh, who didn’t return a reporter’s phone messages left at his Manchester law office last week, was appointed to the top job in late 2009 after Marguerite Wageling was chosen to become a superior court judge.

Walsh faced controversies during his year as Hillsborough County attorney.

He was in office when four off-duty Manchester police officers were involved in the beating of a patron at the Strange Brew Tavern. And the New Hampshire attorney general was critical of plea agreements he reached without informing three crime victims, criticism that Walsh rejected.

Two years ago, Walsh described himself as a tough but fair prosecutor.

LaFrance, however, said: “I don’t think he exhibited the proper leadership. Morale went down after Marguerite left the office. I had a real problem with the way he dealt with some of the police departments.’’ LaFrance said she has received the endorsement of police unions in Manchester, Nashua and Hudson and that of retired Nashua Chief Donald Conley.

“Why am I running against my current boss?” LaFrance said. “I don’t see the leadership in the office that we had under Marguerite Wageling. I think part of that is he has no experience as a felony prosecutor.”

But Hogan, 47, of Nashua, sees it differently.

“I think leadership is a different animal than doing the work of prosecutors. We work as a team,” he said.

Before being elected county attorney in late 2010, Hogan had a private law practice and served on the state Board of Education.

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Mike Cousineau may be reached at mcousineau@unionleader.com. Mark Hayward may be reached at mhayward@unionleader.com.