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[Philly Inquirer] Apparently those 12,000 "found" votes were....um...something elseNew Jersey Democratic Senate President Steve Sweeney on Wednesday conceded his loss in last week’s election, an upset that sent shock waves through the state’s political world, but said he would remain a player in Garden State politics.
“I will be speaking from a different podium, but I promise you: I will be just as loud and just as forceful a voice for change,” he told reporters at the Statehouse in Trenton.
"keep the graft and boodle flowing. I will be back"
Sweeney also congratulated his opponent, Edward Durr Jr., a previously unknown South Jersey Republican who has never served in elected office. Durr’s victory over Sweeney, the longest-serving Senate president in the state’s history and the second-most powerful elected official in Trenton, was an unexpected and major blow to South Jersey’s Democratic establishment.
“All votes have been fairly counted, and I, of course, accept the results,” Sweeney said.
Durr won by a few more than 2,200 votes out of 65,000 cast, according to the Associated Press. Sweeney held off on conceding for a week, saying he wanted all votes counted. Republican Jack Ciattarelli, who mounted an unsuccessful campaign to oust Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, has also urged patience while the votes are counted and has not yet conceded that race despite Murphy’s 72,000-vote lead.
Durr, a 58-year-old truck driver, has said his win was a repudiation of the state’s pandemic policies such as vaccine and mask mandates. Soon after the election, he faced calls to resign after a reporter turned up offensive social media posts, such as one calling undocumented immigrants “criminals” and another that referred to Islam as a “false religion.” Durr deleted the posts last week and said he supports “everybody’s right to worship in any manner they choose.”
Durr will take office in January and serve a two-year term, then can run for a four-year term under New Jersey’s electoral system.
| Courtesy of Skidmark at 11:40 a.m. ET, update from the Daily Mail: |
- 'It was a red wave,' Sweeney said, after losing by about 2,000 votes
- Sweeney did not end up demanding a recount, which would have to have been finance by his party
- Edward Durr is a 58-year-old truck driver for furniture store Raymour & Flanigan
- He defeated NJ Senate President Steve Sweeney, who is the longest-serving legislative leader in New Jersey's history and has been in senate since 2002
- The last time Sweeney had to defend his seat in 2017, nearly $20 million was spent in what is known as one of the most expensive legislative races in US
- Democrats have struggled statewide in the blue stronghold, with incumbent Democratic Governor Murphy just barely crawling to victory