Last Updated on November 4, 2021 by CCAR Staff
Glenn Youngkin’s win in the Virginia governor’s race was the most consequential result in Tuesday’s election. But it wasn’t the biggest upset.
That title goes to Edward Durr, a little-known — and even less financed — Republican who appears to have unseated Stephen Sweeney, the state Senate majority leader and one of the most powerful Democrats in New Jersey.
The count as of late Thursday morning showed Durr holding a 2,298-vote lead, with 51.8% of the vote to Sweeney’s 48.1%.
Sweeney was considered a shoo-in for the South Jersey seat he has held since 2004. He is the longest-tenured state Senate leader in New Jersey history and was widely expected to run for governor in 2025, when current Gov. Phil Murphy hits his term limit. (Murphy narrowly won a second term over Republican Jack Ciattarelli on Tuesday.)
Durr, on the other hand, had only a losing race for state Assembly in 2019 under his belt. He spent two decades as a commercial truck driver and says he decided to run against Sweeney only when he was denied a concealed-carry permit for a gun.
“I’m a numbers guy and I’ve looked at the numbers over the years,” Durr said in August. “We have a district that is 150,000 voters. Senator Sweeney has never broken 32,000 votes … and so I felt if he can’t even get half the district, that means there’s numbers out there to be taken, and you just have to get people to come out and vote. I believe if they come out and vote, we could win.”
According to campaign records filed Thursday, Durr spent $2,300 on his campaign. Earlier reports had shown he had spent just $153.31: $66.64 at Dunkin and $86.67 for flyers and business cards.
Given Sweeney’s powerful post and his resources, even Durr admitted to NJ.com that he didn’t expect to win.
“I joked with people and I said, ‘I’m going to shock the world, I’m going to beat this man,’” he said Wednesday. “I was saying it, but really kind of joking. Because what chance did a person like me really stand against this man? He’s literally the second-most powerful person in the state of New Jersey.”
So, how did Durr do it? Well, as evidenced by Murphy’s close call, there was a clear Republican wind blowing in the state (and in the country). And it’s possible that Sweeney bore some lingering scars from his 2017 race when the New Jersey Education Association went all out to oust him, spending totaled more than $20 million in the race.
“I don’t really think it was Steve Sweeney,” said incoming Republican Senate Leader Steve Oroho. “I think it had to do with the message coming from people who were just annoyed at all the executive orders and all the mandates and being sick and tired of being told what they can and can’t do.”
Montclair State University political science professor Brigid Harrison agreed: “This was a protest vote against the Biden administration and Murphy. Steve was in many ways just how people voiced their dissatisfaction and anger with the larger political structure.”
Sweeney said in a statement Thursday he was waiting for more votes to come in before acknowledging the loss.
— The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The-CNN-Wire
