A conservative truck driver with no political experience and a shoestring budget appears poised to defeat New Jersey’s Democratic Senate leader — the second most powerful politician in the state.
Edward Durr, 58, is approximately 2,000 votes ahead of establishment Senate President Steve Sweeney in a referendum on the state’s draconian COVID-19 policies that mirror California. The Nov. 2 election has also produced a neck-and-neck governor’s race that no one predicted.
NEW JERSEY PHOTO FINISH FOR GOVERNOR
“The main thing that did him in was the fact that he did absolutely nothing the past 18 months while the governor sat on his throne about what jobs, businesses, and stores were allowed to open. He decided what was essential and what wasn’t,” Durr told the Washington Examiner.
Sweeney went along with the governor’s strong-arm COVID-19 mandates that destroyed jobs and businesses and kept children out of school, Durr said.
Hello NJ, I am Edward Durr, the Republican senate candidate for legislative district 3. I’m a father of 3 & grandfather of 6. Life long resident of NJ. Not seeking power or fame, only give the people better representation. Lower taxes! Transparency! @nj1015 @1210WPHT @GlouCoGOP pic.twitter.com/YiOCzFjtSw
— Edward Durr (@edwarddurr1) July 23, 2021
“The governor keeps saying he wants to make New Jersey the California of the East Coast,” he added.
Durr said he felt compelled to do something to save his state and decided to run for the state Senate after being buoyed by encouragement from his father, who died two weeks ago and was a Kennedy Democrat who turned Republican in the Reagan era.
“My dad was my biggest supporter. He was somebody I could lean to. He inspired me,” Durr said. “He was the epitome of the self-made man. I am sharing this with him because I believe he is in heaven.”
With about a dozen supporters and a $6,000 budget, Durr printed out palm-sized cards, and his campaign knocked on more than 20,000 doors and turned many Democrats in his favor. Many of his supporters, including Maureen McCabe, were social media friends and came from outside his district to help.
Initially, Durr was a complete unknown, but then Sweeney made him a household name by smearing him in continuous televised ads.
“You would watch Monday night football, and a commercial would pop up talking about me,” Durr said. “I wasn’t known at all, but the Senate president helped me become known by saying my name 6,000 times — and it registered in people’s heads. People would say, ‘Let me check this guy out,’ and find it’s a bunch of lies.”
For example, one ad said Durr was against employers paying overtime.
“I’m a trucker who lives on overtime — how stupid do you have to be to say I’m against overtime?” Durr asked.
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Durr said he likens his campaign to the story of David and Goliath, in which each stone in his slingshot is a detrimental mandate to average citizens, such as forcing children to receive vaccinations.
“It was the perfect storm that took place,” he said. “It wasn’t just one thing, but a multitude of everything.”
