New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy called Edward Durr, a little-known Republican truck driver projected to dethrone New Jersey Senate President Steve Sweeney, a “dangerous guy.”
Citing news of Durr’s past social media posts, including one with anti-Muslim content, the governor said on Friday he has no intention of welcoming the likes of Durr into the Legislature.
“This guy who is apparently winning is a dangerous guy,” Murphy said, adding later, “I want to be unequivocal: I do not welcome this in any way, shape, or form.”
The race between Sweeney and Durr was called late Thursday morning by the Associated Press. There were roughly 2,000 votes between them with 100% of precincts reporting. Durr led by 32,742 votes, or 51.8%, while Sweeney trailed with 30,444, or 48.2%.
Durr apologized for his past social media commentary he says came “in the heat of the moment.”Among the posts reported last week was one that said, “Mohammed was a pedophile! Islam is a false religion! Only fools follow Muslim teachings! It is a cult of hate!”
But Durr did not take kindly to Murphy’s comments, claiming it is the Democratic governor who is 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, according to the New Jersey Globe. “The fact is, Phil Murphy is far more dangerous than I could ever be.”
“Nothing he has done has made New Jersey fairer or stronger,” Durr also said. “Unlike Murphy, I’m going to Trenton to help make New Jersey better for everyone in our state.”
There are parallels between the race in New Jersey’s 3rd state Senate District and the gubernatorial contest: Neither candidate projected to lose has conceded.
Sweeney said last week he was not ready to accept defeat, noting results from Tuesday’s election were still coming in and citing “12,000 ballots recently found in one county.”
He addressed that comment on Monday.
“I didn’t say they were found,” Sweeney said, according to NJ.com. “I said 12,000 votes came in to Camden County. My point is: Votes are coming in. I don’t know how many are coming in. I won’t know until today. But votes were coming in every day. Could there be a large number of votes? Could there be no votes? The point is: Just let us count the votes. I’ve earned that.”
With the deadline for receipt of timely mailed postmarked mail-in ballots to be counted set on Monday, Sweeney said he’ll make an announcement about his future on Tuesday, according to the New Jersey Globe.
Murphy was declared the winner by a slim margin against Republican candidate Jack Ciattarelli on Wednesday, but Ciattarelli so far has refused to concede.
“No one should be declaring victory or conceding the election until every legal vote is counted,” he said in a video Thursday. He also noted “thousands” of provisional ballots and mail-in votes have yet to be counted.
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Murphy’s campaign released a memo on Monday that claimed with a lead of roughly 65,000 votes, there is “no mathematical path forward” for the Republican to win.
New Jersey has no automatic recall law, but a candidate can ask a judge for one within 17 days of Election Day. State law says a candidate must “believe that an error has been made,” but if the recount finds no major errors or reverses the result, the party that requested it has to pay up, according to the Washington Post.
