Eldridge retains state Senate seat after defeating GOP challenger Christakis

Veteran legislator Jamie Eldridge has successfully defended his state Senate seat in Tuesday's election, defeating Republican challenger Anthony Christakis.

With 95% of the vote in, Eldridge had earned 50,570 votes to Christakis' 20,374. The Associated Press called the race at 12:14 p.m. Wednesday. Eldridge's margin of victory is even greater than what he attained from the last time he was challenged, in 2018, when he defeated Margaret Busse.

Eldridge challenged: Wayland's Anthony Christakis offers Republican opposition to longtime Democratic legislator

Eldridge, 49, of Acton, would retain his seat in the revised Middlesex and Worcester District, which he has served since he was first elected in 2009. Due to the results of the 2020 U.S. Census, the district has been redrawn, moving further east and losing Westborough and Northborough, and adding Wayland. Eldridge still represents Southborough, Marlborough, Hudson, Sudbury, Stow, Acton, Maynard, Boxborough, Harvard and Littleton.

“I would say my campaign was pretty quiet this year," Eldridge told the Daily News Tuesday night. "I know my opponent had fairly conservative views, and I think this is another example of the shift in the Republican party moving further to the right. What we are seeing across the state is really big Democratic voter turnout.”

Christakis, of Wayland, couldn't be reached for comment for this story. He is a project manager at the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.

He previously told the Daily News that he ran to move the Legislature away from "single-party rule."

Eldridge said that during his campaign he focused on his core issues, which were education, climate change, transportation and supporting local businesses.

“Coming out of the pandemic, there was a massive need for support for businesses and local nonprofits," he said. "There was a huge need for things like food insecurity that we had to address and deliver to the district."

As he looks toward an additional two-year term, Eldridge plans to deal with some post-pandemic changes that have changed the game in some fields, including transportation and health care.

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“With the transportation crisis that has gone on with the MBTA, post-COVID transportation has greatly changed,” Eldridge said. “We also have to address health care in bolder ways. Increases in premiums, higher deductibles, lack of access to health care, we need to be bolder in how we are tackling that issue."

This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Jamie Eldridge retains State Senate seat with win over Christakis