Posted on 11/10/2021 1:49:11 PM PST by MNJohnnie
New Jersey Senate President Steve Sweeney, one of the most powerful Democrats in the state, conceded that he lost his reelection to truck driver Edward Durr.
“I of course accept the results. I want to congratulate Mr. Durr and wish him the best of luck,” Sweeney said during a speech on Wednesday in the statehouse, conceding that a “red wave” in his district caused him to lose his longtime seat.
“There were 12,000 more people that voted at this time than in 2017,” the Democrat told reporters.
Durr, a Raymour & Flanigan furniture truck driver, ran a low-budget campaign and shot a campaign video on a smartphone. A political newcomer, Durr defeated Sweeney by more than 2,000 votes in New Jersey’s 3rd District.
Sweeney told reporters that he won’t withdraw from public life and did not say whether he would seek reelection or run for governor.
“What the voters said in this election is New Jersey is a state filled with hardworking people who want to provide for their families and as leaders we need to speak directly to the concerns of all voters,” he continued. “I plan to keep speaking to those concerns.”
Also during his speech, Sweeney said he entered politics after his daughter Lauren was born prematurely.
“Twenty years later, I was able to make sure that all New Jersey parents had the same opportunity to be with their loved ones in their time of greatest need when the paid family leave bill I sponsored was signed into law,” he said.
Analysts and commentators have said Sweeney’s loss, as well as Republican gubernatorial candidate coming within a hair of defeating Gov. Phil Murphy, could signal a bad omen for Democrats both in New Jersey—a reliably blue state—and around the United States ahead of the 2022 midterms. In Virginia, Republican Glenn Youngkin defeated Democrat Terry McAuliffe in a state that saw President Joe Biden win by 10 percentage points last year.
“No one on God’s Earth could have predicted that,” Democratic state Sen. Richard Codey said of Sweeney’s loss, reported NJ.com
But Durr told Fox News that his “entire team worked our butts off to win this election. We knocked on thousands of doors to achieve this win … I am confident that mathematically, the results of this election will hold.”
An election to fill Sweeney’s Senate presidency seat is scheduled to be held later this week, according to reports.
Well now. I guess the 13 thousand votes he “found” were all for the truck driver.
You know the R must have won the governor race.
Pretty freakin’ funny.
Listening to constituents and telling the truth.....what a concept
The deep state with dominion and USPS could not manufacture votes this time? They got lazy after after 2020 huh?
Go, go, GO, Mr. Durr !
No wonder we have a truck driver shortage. They’re running against corrupt Democrats.
Wow!
The Red Sea just parted.
Someone tapped Mr. Sweeney on the shoulder and informed him that they were on to his 12,000 fake ballots.
NJ state senators traditionally hold down or strive to hold down full-time jobs AFAIK. Often they run businesses, are dentists, attorneys, other types of professionals. I’m sure there are exceptions but I think this is the norm.
Go GOP!
What a loser. He should go work at a truck stop 🤪
97% of the article was about the loser, what’s up with that?
The democrat “incumbent” (er, senator-for-life) had never gotten more than 23,000 votes in his life from this district. He needed some 32,000 this time to cheat (er, win) this election.
As Jackie Gleason would say, “How Sweeeeet it is!”
Agreed but I wonder what’s in it for him to concede.
I just don’t see democrats doing that for no reason.
It does seem a little odd.
It does seem a little odd.
He wants to take off the pressure for a forensic audit, and encourage the Republican running for governor to also concede.
New Jersey desperately needs a full forensic audit to ensure free and fair elections and voter integrity.
Mr. Durr will be thrown to the wolves, though. I wonder if he has any idea just how cutthroat politics is and that his worse enemies will pretend to be on his side. He needs our prayers for to have wisdom and discernment. Already the media wolves are looking into everything he has said or done since first grade in order to attack and discredit him.
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