Sudbury Senate Seat Forum Canceled After Candidate Declines Invite

SUDBURY, MA — A planned forum in Sudbury between two candidates vying for a state Senate seat that covers a wide area between Ayer and Southborough has been canceled after one of the candidates declined to appear.

Incumbent Democratic state Sen. Jamie Eldridge is running in 2022 to keep his seat against Wayland resident and Republican Anthony Christakis. According to the Sudbury League of Women Voters, Eldridge agreed to appear, but Christakis declined.

"League policy prohibits 'empty chair' forums that feature only one candidate in a two-person race, so the Leagues will not hold the planned forum," the Sudbury League said in a news release.

Eldridge has held the Middlesex and Worcester state Senate seat — which will cover Marlborough, Wayland, Sudbury, Maynard, Stow, Southborough, Hudson, Acton, Boxborough, Harvard after the November election — since 2009.

But 2022 will be an important year for the district: it's the first election following redistricting in 2020 based on the Census results. The current district lines only include part of Sudbury, and none of Wayland.

Neither Christakis nor Eldridge faced a primary challenge earlier this month.

The Sudbury League will still publish a voter's guide including the Middlesex and Worcester state Senate race and other local races ahead of Election Day.