{"id":94655,"date":"2021-11-06T15:04:40","date_gmt":"2021-11-06T19:04:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=94655"},"modified":"2021-11-06T15:07:02","modified_gmt":"2021-11-06T19:07:02","slug":"how-did-the-republican-trucker-upset-the-n-j-state-senate-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=94655","title":{"rendered":"How did the Republican trucker upset the N.J. State Senate President?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Trucker stuns political world with major upset win against N.J. State Senate President<\/h1>\n

Alex Lockie
\nOVERDRIVE<\/p>\n

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Edward Durr steps out of a truck in his campaign ad for New Jersey State Senate.<\/p><\/div>\n

Edward Durr, a company driver for the furniture chain Raymour & Flanigan, just pulled off perhaps the greatest political upset of the year by unseating the longest-serving New Jersey State Senate president, Steve Sweeney, after spending only $153 on his primary campaign, with about $66 of that money being spent on Dunkin’ Donuts.<\/p>\n

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Durr’s story, now a national media sensation, started when the local sheriff told him he couldn’t get a concealed carry gun permit and ended up with one of the more embarrassing political defeats for Democrats.<\/p>\n

When Durr, 58, tried to get a concealed carry permit earlier this year he was “told flat-out by the local sheriff, ‘Don’t even bother.’ And that kind of angered me,” he told The Nader Narrative<\/a>, a conservative political show. “I’m a truck driver and I’ve been to every military base up and down the East Coast. I’ve been to the Pentagon… I’ve never been arrested and I couldn’t get a concealed carry? … That really angered me, so I looked into what can you do to get into politics.”<\/p>\n

Durr, a lifelong New Jersey resident from Camden County, has three children in the state and blue-collar roots, as his dad was a carpenter.\u00a0In 2017, opponents of Sweeney had spent $5 million or more to unseat him, but failed as Sweeney won by 18 points.<\/p>\n

According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, Sweeney didn’t feel too threatened by Durr, so the 11-year State Senate President and union ironworker ran a subdued campaign.<\/p>\n

By Thursday, Sweeney had likely come to regret that, as Durr’s narrow win against him became official. Durr told Politico<\/a> that in total, he doubts he spent more than $10,000 on the entire campaign — a minuscule amount for such a high-profile race. Durr won the tight race by just about 2,000 votes.<\/p>\n