After initially refusing to concede he lost his campaign for reelection to represent New Jersey’s 3rd Legislative District, ostensibly on grounds of making sure every vote was counted, longtime State Senate President Steve Sweeney (D) officially conceded the race to Republican Edward Durr on Wednesday in one of the wildest upsets in modern political history.
During a press conference at the state house in Trenton, Sweeney acknowledged his defeat and congratulated Durr, noting that there was a clear “red wave” that had swept parts of the state, ultimately causing him to lose to Durr by roughly 2,000 votes:
“[The results of Tuesday’s election are in. All votes have been fairly counted.] I of course accept the results. I want to congratulate Mr. Durr and wish him the best of luck,” Sweeney said during a speech at the statehouse complex Wednesday.Sweeney said his loss to Durr, who spent at least $2,300 in the contest, was the result of overwhelming GOP turnout in his suburban, politically split district. Sweeney lost by about 2,000 votes after spending about $305,000 on his campaign.“It was a red wave,” Sweeney said.
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Hours after Sweeney’s concession, in which he also hinted at future political ambitions which may or may not include a run for governor, Durr said during a news conference that he was so overwhelmed by everything that had happened that he felt like he was going to “throw up”:
“I feel like I’m about to throw up,” Ed Durr said during a news conference after Senate President Steve Sweeney conceded the race, when asked if there’s a learning curve for him. “This is all new to me. It’s all overwhelming, but I am very happy that the voters selected me. I’m going to earn that vote and I’m going to prove them right.”[…]He said the “secret” to his win came down to two words: “Phil Murphy.”“’The voters have spoken,” Durr said. “They don’t want government rule by a dangerous guy armed with a bunch of executive orders.”
Here’s a portion of his remarks from that press conference, where he noted he had talked to Sweeney, who had congratulated him:
As it turns out, Durr is already making waves in the Garden State, receiving a call from former President Donald Trump while getting blasted by Gov. Phil Murphy (D) who alleged Durr, a truck driver with three kids and six grandkids and who conducted an old-school campaign by knocking on doors himself, was “dangerous” in comments made to the media last Friday:
Showing some political savvy, Durr responded accordingly to Murphy’s attack by turning the tables on him, suggesting it was Murphy who was the dangerous one:
“Murphy’s policies have made New Jersey the most-moved-out-of-state in the nation, closed one-third of our small businesses and killed 10,000 nursing home residents,” Durr said. “The fact is, Phil Murphy is far more dangerous than I could ever be.”Durr added that he intends to fight against Murphy to make New Jersey better.“Nothing he has done has made New Jersey fairer or stronger,” he said. “Unlike Murphy, I’m going to Trenton to help make New Jersey better for everyone in our state.”
Durr also had the perfect response to a piece published Saturday at The Atlantic written by Never Trumper Tom Nichols, who smugly declared that we needed people in government who actually knew a thing or two about politics, not upstarts like Durr who wanted to shake things up:
I suspect many New Jerseyans would agree with him. I mean the man has a point, right?
— Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via Twitter. —
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