Democrat John Burzichelli has declared victory in his bid to unseat New Jersey State Sen. Edward Durr — the Republican trucker who surprised New Jersey by ousting then-state Senate President Steve Sweeney in 2021.
As of 11:20 p.m. Tuesday, the Associated Press had not yet called the race, but Burzichelli was up 53-47%, with 97% of results in.
At that point, Burzichelli’s running mates, Democrats Heather Simmons and Dave Bailey Jr., held much slimmer leads in races for the state Assembly over Republicans Bethanne McCarthy Patrick and Thomas J. Tedesco Jr., according to the AP. Each of the Democrats had slightly over 25% of the votes counted; each of the Republicans had just under 25%. McCarthy Patrick was the only incumbent in the race for Assembly.
Republican Christopher Del Borrello conceded defeat in an attempt to unseat Democratic incumbent Paul Moriarty in the neighboring 4th Legislative District. “With the numbers that came In, there’s no path to victory tonight,” Del Borrello said Tuesday evening, according to NJ Monitor reporter Nikita Biryukov.
Durr is a conservative in a purple district that was thought to be trending Republican since the rise of Trumpism, mostly on the growing appeal the party has with white blue collar workers. But Burzichelli’s declaration of victory in LD-3 and Del Borrello’s concession in LD-4 were early signs Republicans might struggle in their hopes to take over a chamber of the state Legislature. As of 11:20 p.m., the AP hadn’t yet called most races for the state Legislature, though Democrats were showing leads in more races than Republicans.
Durr, 60, is a truck driver for the furniture company Raymour & Flanigan and lives in Logan Township.
Durr’s under-the-radar 2021 campaign, with little name recognition and even less cash, made national headlines. In the 2021 campaign, Durr spent $2,300 and Sweeney spent about $305,000.
In his first term, Durr became one of the most conservative members of the State Senate,…
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