Two close friends are battling for a four-year term in the Dutchess County Sheriff's Office -- one is a man with decades of experience and the other is a woman looking to make history.

Acting Sheriff Kirk Imperati is going against Jillian Hanlon.

Hanlon, a Democrat, has decades of experience, which includes long stints as a corrections officer, a sheriff's deputy and a paramedic.

If she wins, she would become the first transgender sheriff.

Imperati, a Republican, replaced longtime Sheriff Butch Anderson after Anderson's death last September.

He has been at the sheriff's office for 29 years. He has worked as a detective, a school resource officer and an undersheriff before becoming sheriff.

Both candidates support expanding the county's SRO program and expanding mental-health services at the new county jail.

"I have grown in the role of public safety professional from the moment I started volunteering, driving ambulances up in Columbia County. What I have over my opponent is that my experience is broader, deeper and wider," Hanlon said.

"I have the experience that no one else has in this race. I'm the most qualified individual for this race because I have the experience of working in all different divisions of the Dutchess County Sheriff's Office, being the second in command for 14 years and now the sheriff for the past year," Imperati said.

This is the first time either candidate has run in a contested election.