In the wake of the Democrat Party’s politically devastating losses in Virginia, we noted the other off-year gubernatorial contest the Democrats almost lost, that of incumbent New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, who narrowly defeated his Republican opponent by one percentage point.

The victories in Virginia were, in part, a referendum on Joe Biden’s administrative failures, given that he carried that state in last year’s presidential election by 10 points. Indeed, his state polling was as abysmal as his national polling, but Republican Glenn Youngkin defeated Democrat Terry McAuliffe in large measure because he campaigned on issues important to Virginians.

But in New Jersey, a state Biden carried by 16 points last year, the fact that Phil Murphy was almost defeated is astounding. While all the pundits were focused on Virginia, nobody expected New Jersey’s Demo political machine would almost fail.

Almost, in the case of Murphy, but not in the case of the Demos’ State Senate president, Steve Sweeney, who until Tuesday was the most powerful and prominent legislator in the state. Sweeney has been a Garden State political power broker for 20 years, and he has led the state’s senate since 2010.

But that didn’t deter Republican Ed Durr, who, astoundingly, defeated Sweeney by more than a three-point margin.

Ed is about as grassroots American as you can get. He’s a 58-year-old Jersey native who has been a furniture delivery guy for the last 25 years, a Harley-riding “constitutional conservative” father of three and grandfather of six. He took a more active interest in politics in 2019 after local Demo officials denied him a concealed carry permit, but he lost his first bid for a state assembly seat. When nobody stepped up to challenge Sweeney this year, Ed volunteered to be the sacrificial-lamb Republican on the ballot against the South Jersey party machine.

Ed, who said he is “not seeking power or fame, only to give the people better representation,” spent $153 in his primary campaign, and $2,313 in the general election, mostly on printed flyers and snacks for his door-to-door campaign volunteers. He “filmed” his campaign video on his cell phone.

Sweeney, on the other hand, spent $1,061,957 on advertising and consultants and, of course, is refusing to concede defeat to a common man, a mere mortal citizen.

Ed advocated for tax cuts and Second Amendment rights.

He tapped into the Demos’ oppressive pandemic overreach: “You have the debacle of unemployment. The masking of the kids in school. You have Senator Sweeney trying to take away peoples’ medical freedom rights. I think the perfect storm was that he stepped into a pile of you-know-what and couldn’t get out of it because he didn’t know which way to turn. I just tapped into the right focus.”

He also tapped into voter disgust with the Demos’ political machinations: “Just the constant nepotism, corruption, ‘if you take care of me, I’ll take care of you’ deals. You don’t have evidence, you can’t get anyone arrested or prove anything, but there’s always ‘when there’s smoke there’s fire’ kind of statements.”

Of his victory, he said: “I kept telling myself and telling people I was going to do it, but in the back of my mind I was like, ‘You know, how am I going to beat the Senate president? My daughter was sitting next to me. She laughed at me and said, 'Dad, you’ve got tears running down my face.”

Of Ed’s victory, Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) summed it up for all of us: “Hahaha no way.”

Apparently, WAY!

(Follow @MAlexander1776)

Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis
Pro Deo et Libertate — 1776