![\"Democrat](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/JeffreyLakeHeadShot.jpg\")
Democrat Jeffrey Lake of Clarks Summit, a candidate for state Senate in the 22nd District. He\u2019s challenging incumbent state Sen. Marty Flynn of Dunmore in the Democratic primary. (Photo Courtesy of Jeffry Lake)<\/p>\nDemocratic state Senate candidate Jeffrey Lake is challenging incumbent Democratic state Sen. Marty Flynn to a series of four debates in their 22nd Senate District primary race.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll definitely do a debate with him,\u201d Flynn said this week.<\/p>\n
But asked if he\u2019d do four, an unusually high number of debates in a local primary for state office, Flynn said \u201cno.\u201d<\/p>\n
Democrat Jeffrey Lake of Clarks Summit, a candidate for state Senate in the 22nd District. He\u2019s challenging incumbent state Sen. Marty Flynn of Dunmore in the Democratic primary. (Photo Courtesy of Jeffry Lake)<\/p>\n
A former state representative for the 113th House District, the incumbent Democrat from Dunmore has represented the 22nd District in the state Senate since 2021, when he won a special election to replace former Democratic state Sen. John Blake.<\/p>\n
Lake, a Clarks Summit resident and special education professional who describes himself as a progressive Democrat, is challenging Flynn for the Democratic nomination in the Senate district that includes parts of Lackawanna and Luzerne counties.<\/p>\n
In a recent campaign press release, Lake proposed separate debates the weeks of April 13 and April 27, a third debate late in the week of May 4 and a fourth debate the weekend before the May 19 primary election.<\/p>\n
He further proposed that each debate be hosted by a different local university \u2014 the University of Scranton, Marywood University, King\u2019s College and Wilkes University \u2014 \u201cto ensure broad community access and engagement across the district.\u201d Lake\u2019s campaign is willing to \u201ccoordinate outreach to local media outlets and university partners to secure moderators and venues,\u201d the release notes.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur campaign is about giving voters a real voice and a real choice,\u201d Lake said in the release. \u201cThat starts with open, honest debates about the issues facing our communities, from rising costs to the unchecked growth of data centers. Voters deserve to hear directly from both candidates.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reached after Flynn expressed a willingness to debate, albeit not four times, Lake responded in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cLimiting this to one debate shortchanges voters, especially in a district that spans multiple counties,\u201d he said. \u201cIf Senator Flynn is unwilling to stand before the public more than once, that says a lot. \u2026 We\u2019ll be hosting (four) forums, and we\u2019re happy Senator Flynn has decided to attend one of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not yet clear when and where any potential debate or debates between the candidates would take place.<\/p>\n
The winner of the Democratic primary for the 22nd Senate District seat is likely to face presumptive Republican nominee Sharon Soltis Sparano of La Plume Twp. in November\u2019s general election. Sparano, a retired pharmacist, is uncontested for the GOP nomination in the May primary.<\/p>\n
The last day for unregistered would-be voters to register before the primary is May 4. The last day to apply for a mail-in or civilian absentee ballot is May 12.<\/p>\n
The Lackawanna County portion of the 22nd Senate District includes Benton Twp., Clarks Green, Clarks Summit, Dalton, Dickson City, Dunmore, Glenburn Twp., Greenfield Twp., La Plume Twp., Moosic, Newton Twp., North Abington Twp., Old Forge, Ransom Twp., Scott Twp., Scranton, South Abington Twp., Taylor, Throop, Waverly Twp. and West Abington Twp.<\/p>\n
The Luzerne County portion includes Avoca, Dupont, Duryea, Hughestown, Jenkins Twp., Laflin, Laurel Run, Pittston, Pittston Twp., Plains Twp., West Pittston, Wilkes-Barre, Wilkes-Barre Twp., Wyoming and Yatesville.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Democratic state Senate candidate Jeffrey Lake is challenging incumbent Democratic state Sen. Marty Flynn to a series of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":156530,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[836,201,182,803,139,28,50,178,180,179,729],"class_list":{"0":"post-156529","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scranton","8":"tag-election","9":"tag-lackawanna-county","10":"tag-local-news","11":"tag-luzerne-county","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-pennsylvania","14":"tag-politics","15":"tag-scranton","16":"tag-scranton-headlines","17":"tag-scranton-news","18":"tag-uncategorized"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156529\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}