Former New Jersey Sen. Edward Darr, who gained national attention in 2021 when he defeated longtime state Senate President Stephen Sweeney in a fantasy bid, told Fox News Digital that the Garden State could see multiple political upheavals this year.
Darr, who is facing 2021 GOP gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli and state Sen. Jon Bramnick in the Republican primary, could face off in a rematch with Sweeney for governor.
The Gloucester County Republican said his campaign for governor won’t be much different than his first showdown with Sweeney, calling 2024 a “grassroots campaign.”
“This is an election of the people, by the people and for the people,” he said. “I’m not your typical candidate, so to speak. I’m not a lawyer, I’m not a doctor, I’m not a wealthy businessman. You know, I’m just an ordinary working-class guy.”
Longtime New Jersey Senate president concedes defeat to Republican truck driver
Edward Darr, a truck driver from New Jersey, appeared on Fox News during his 2021 state Senate campaign. (Fox News Channel)
“Trenton has been neglecting its ordinary citizens, so I’m the best candidate to give the people of Trenton a voice,” said Duerr, a former construction worker and truck driver for a furniture company who was running for state Senate.
“They have always catered to their special interests and ignored ordinary people who are just trying to get by. Someone needs to speak up for us,” Dar added.
Darr said he supports former President Trump and attended a recent rally at Wildwood Beach, but added that the public misunderstands him as an “ultra-conservative.” Instead, he described himself as an open-minded conservative with traditional views on fiscal responsibility, public safety, parental rights and the Second Amendment.
“But I also have an open mind. I understand that there are compromises in government. So I don’t like being pigeonholed into one category,” he said.
“I don’t like labels. I think a lot of people would say that, but it makes sense. [New Jersey] is a hardline Democratic state. I don’t think of it as a Democratic state. I think of a Democratic state as a purple-leaning state with a big Democratic streak running down the middle.”
Outside the densely populated areas adjacent to the New Jersey Turnpike, New Jerseyans are a “mixed bunch” ranging from moderates to conservatives who simply want a say in their government, Darr said.
Trump holds huge campaign rally at Wildwood Beach
Darr said the main issue was voter turnout, which he credited for his victory over Sweeney in 2021. Darr said 12,000 more voters cast ballots in the primary race, but some voters didn’t return to the polls in 2023, which in turn contributed to his loss to then-State Rep. John Virgichelli.
“That’s what we have to do. That’s why I lost last time,” he said.
Darr added that he believes Trump has a good chance of winning New Jersey, due in part to the geopolitical trends he mentioned earlier.
“The Democratic Party [gone] “So far they’ve ignored everybody. They’ve been pushed to the fringes. And now Donald Trump speaks to the masses,” he said.
“We saw it in Wildwood. It was the biggest rally that’s ever happened in New Jersey, it’s never happened before.”
“You can’t fill a church with Joe Biden supporters, but you can fill an entire coast with Donald Trump supporters. We wanted more people to come, but we just couldn’t get there.”
Darr also said that if Trump wins New Jersey, the same working-class voters who helped him win will support him.
New Jersey Republicans have had more success in gubernatorial races than other states, with Chris Christie and Christine Todd Whitman in recent years, but Darr said he’s open to working with a Democratic legislature if elected, though he didn’t rule out the possibility of Republicans pulling off an upset in the state Legislature.
“One of the main ways is to cut waste. There’s a lot of waste. And New Jersey’s budget continues to grow every year,” he said, suggesting there might be Democrats in the state willing to negotiate with “Governor Duerr” on that point.
“It’s a simple policy: Just eliminate waste, allow people to grow and make a living, and New Jersey will grow.”
Discussing the charges against Sen. Robert Menendez, he said another characteristic unique to the Garden State is that its citizens distrust public officials. Menendez’s corruption allegations help show why people are “angry and ready to fight back” in support of the elected officials who represent them, Durr said.
Click here to get the FOX News app
“It has been tolerated that there is corruption in politics, but I think people are finally realizing that it doesn’t have to be this way. We can actually fight back and say, ‘No, we won’t accept this. You serve us. You work for us, the people, and you have to be accountable to us,'” he said.
“And I think that’s finally happened, and I welcome the possibility that New Jersey will actually have a Republican senator.”
Asked about the possibility of facing Sweeney again, Darr said his strategy would remain the same. Darr accused Sweeney of posing as a moderate in his time in the Senate, when in fact the former senator was a progressive and said many of outgoing Gov. Phil Murphy’s liberal policies could have passed the Legislature without Darr’s approval.
Sweeney’s campaign did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Asked how he would handle sudden crises like the anti-Israel protests on campuses at the state’s flagship university, Rutgers University, which have taken place there recently, Darr said he believes in the First Amendment right to assemble and speak, but that violence and intimidation go too far.
“The protesters are preventing students from going to school. They are disrupting their journey, harassing them, assaulting them… this will not be tolerated,” he said.
“I think the protesters are wrong. They don’t understand the dynamics of the Middle East situation. They are protesting for some reason. I have no idea why they are protesting, but if they want to do so, they are free to do so as long as they don’t interfere.”
Requests for comment from the New Jersey Republican Party and the New Jersey Democratic State Committee were not responded to at press time.
