By David Harry

Staff Writer

The 2012 race for the Maine House District 137 seat has become a Democratic Party fight between two experienced legislators.

Maine Sen. Nancy Sullivan, now serving Senate District 4, has filed to run for the House seat now held by Rep. Alan Casavant, who also is mayor of Biddeford.

Sullivan is prohibited by state term limits laws from seeking a fifth two-year term in the Senate seat that comprises the eastern portion of Biddeford and all of Arundel, Kennebunk and Kennebunkport.

Casavant, elected mayor of Biddeford in November, said he will file his nomination papers with state officials next month as he seeks a fourth two-year term in the House district comprised of wards 1, 2 and 3 in Biddeford and all of Kennebunkport.

“I am definitely running,” Casavant said.

Sullivan said she decided to enter the race because it appeared Casavant was indecisive about his future in the Legislature and she wanted the district to have an experienced candidate on the ballot.

Before replacing Democrat Lloyd LaFountain as District 4 senator in 2004, Sullivan served three two-year terms in Maine House District 17, comprised of much the same areas as House District 137. House and Senate districts are renum-bered each decade as part of redistricting based on federal census data.

“I’m concerned,” Sullivan said. “I did not do this easily.”

Sullivan said she decided to enter the race after Casavant asked for more time to make a decision about running for any Legislative seat, but he said he indicated all along he was interested in seeking a fourth term for the House seat he initially won in 2006.

“I never usually file until mid-February,” he said. “It will be a tough battle, she is breaking with party protocol.”

Sullivan said filing for the race was a partial break from protocol about running against incumbents who can seek re-election, but noted she did not seek a fourth term for her House seat in order to run for the Senate seat LaFountain held. In 2004, Sullivan defeated former Biddeford Mayor Donna Dion in the Democratic primary.

Casavant said he had been clear he was not interested in seeking the Senate seat Sullivan must give up because duties in the Senate would conflict with municipal duties as mayor and chairman of the Biddeford School Committee.

However, Casavant said serving in the House has presented only one scheduling conflict so far as Gov. Paul LePage made his State of the State address Tuesday at the same time as a school committee meeting.

Both candidates worried a contested primary could boost the fortunes of a Republican candidate in the November general election and said new efforts to place a racino in Biddeford would be the most likely topic that could cause disagreement between them.

Sullivan supported a bill in the Legislature to allow Scarborough Downs to relocate to Biddeford while Casavant voted against it. The bill was eventually voted down in the Legislature under the threat of a LePage veto last June.

A statewide referendum seeking approval for racinos in Biddeford and Washington County was defeated in November.

In the interim between Sullivan’s tenure in House District 17 and Casavant’s election in House District 137, Kennebunkport Republican Seavey H. Stedman served one two-year term in the district. Casavant defeated him in 2006.

Biddeford firefighter David E. Dutremble and former Biddeford Legislator Stephen Beaudette have filed to run as Democrats for the Senate District 4 seat.

Maine Governmental Ethics and Election Practices records do not show any Republican candidates have filed to run in House District 137 or Senate District 4.

Staff Writer David Harry can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 213.