Former state Sen. Ed Durr, the Republican truck driver who was elected in a stunning upset that made national headlines before recently losing his seat after one term, announced Monday he is joining the still-ballooning race for New Jersey governor.
The 60-year-old from South Jersey formally announced Monday night he is seeking his party’s nomination to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy in 2025.
Nicknamed “Ed the Trucker,” Durr shockingly defeated then-state Senate President Stephen Sweeney in 2021 to win a seat in Trenton. Now, six months after dropping his re-election bid, he’s attempting a comeback by vying for another upset, this time for the state’s highest office.
Durr, a self-described “blue-collar” conservative, declared his campaign in blue-leaning New Jersey with a speech at an Egg Harbor church in which he bashed Murphy and the Democratic-controlled state Legislature for their handling of crime, the economy, taxes, gun rights, offshore wind, COVID-19, and education.
“We are in a crisis,” Durr said. “New Jersey is broken. Our government is broken, we are financially broken, and we are morally broken. We have an administration that does not protect the people but works against them.”
“It’s time to send a common man, a truck driver, to turn our state around.”
Though the primary election is still more than a year away, Durr is the fourth Republican candidate to enter the race. The first three were state Sen. Jon Bramnick, real estate broker Robert Canfield, and former state Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli, who came closer than expected to defeating Murphy in 2021. Durr also likely won’t be the last Republican contender, with conservative radio host Bill Spadea likely to join — and perhaps others.
Meanwhile, a Durr vs. Sweeney rematch is possible. The former Senate president is one of the declared Democratic contenders in the race, along with Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop and Newark Mayor Ras Baraka. Others are expected to follow.r
Whoever wins those nominations will face off for an open governor’s seat in a closely watched election next fall. While New Jersey often chooses Democrats in federal elections and registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans here by about 1 million, the Garden State has frequently gone back and forth between parties when picking a governor.
A resident of Logan Township in Gloucester County, Durr had no political experience, little name recognition, and minor fundraising when he upset Sweeney, then the second-most-powerful elected state official in New Jersey, in 2021 from the Senate seat he held for two decades in South Jersey.
Durr became an instant icon in conservative circles, with mentions all over late-night television and appearances on Fox News. He also became one of the most unabashedly right-wing members of the Legislature, pushing bills on guns, abortion, and more that got ignored by leadership. He was routinely critical of Murphy, as well.
In addition, Durr faced controversy for past comments, including a 2020 Facebook post about abortion, before he was elected, that said: “A woman does have a choice! Keep her legs closed.”
In response, Durr told Politico last year that “contraceptives and abstinence from sex is a way for not getting pregnant,” adding “I’m not a perfect man.” But in an interview with NJ PBS on Election Night last fall, he said of the post: “That’s a lie, ‘cause I didn’t do it. ... That was not me.”
Though Durr fended off a Republican primary challenge last summer from a former running mate, he lost his 3rd legislative district seat in the general election to former state Assemblyman John Burzichelli, another veteran Democrat whom Durr’s team defeated two years before. Burzichelli had a large fundraising advantage.
Durr is now expected to run in a conservative lane in the Republican gubernatorial primary. In Monday’s seven-minute speech, he criticized Murphy for installing mandates that state workers receive coronavirus vaccines or face testing, which Durr referring to it as “an experimental and controversial COVID shot.”
He said Murphy’s administration has fought for gun control policies that keep people from protecting themselves. He argued Murphy and the Legislature have driven New Jersey “closer to the edge of the abyss” with “increasing budgets, rising taxing, and mounting debt that has made New Jersey unaffordable for families.”
Durr also repeated long-running accusations from conservatives that sex education policies in the state have a “woke agenda,” teach children inappropriate content, and strip away “parental rights” — which critics say is exaggerated and homophobic. Shortly after taking office, Durr introduced a bill that would ban schools in the state from teaching children in K-6th grades about sexual orientation and gender identity. It never advanced.
Monday’s announcement came during an event at the New Life Assembly church focused on schools. The sign in front of the lectern where Durr spoke read: “Teach ABC not sex.”
“We can do better. Together, we can fight for New Jersey and our children’s future,” Durr said, adding that he will support law enforcement, make New Jersey “more affordable for everyone,” and “allow children to be children and parents to be parents.”
Durr’s candidacy could shake up a crowded primary colored by divisions in the Republican Party, with a base that still largely supports former President Donald Trump.
Bramnick is running as a decidedly anti-Trump contender, while Ciattarelli has straddled the line on Trump. Durr could siphon votes away from Spadea, whom Trump praised as “fantastic” last week during an appearance on Spadea’s radio show. Durr announced his candidacy two days after attending Trump’s rally in Wildwood on Saturday.
Plus, there is uncertainty over the county line, the only-in-New Jersey system in which candidates endorsed by county parties receive preferential placement on primary ballots. A federal judge blocked the line in this year’s Democratic primary as part of a lawsuit Democratic U.S. Rep. Andy Kim filed as he runs for U.S. Senate, and it’s possible the judge could throw out the design entirely before next year’s primary.
That, experts say, could make it easier for candidates without institutional support to gain attention and makes developing a brand with voters — as Durr has — more important.
“The Republican gubernatorial field had been shaping up to look like Spadea might have his own Trumpian lane, while Bramnick and Ciattarelli would have to share the more mainstream lane,” said Micah Rasmussen, director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University and a former aide to Democratic former Gov. Jim McGreevey. “With the name brand of Ed the Trucker now in the same lane with Spadea, no one has his own clear lane at this stage of the game.”
Ashley Koning, director of the Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling at Rutgers University, said Durr’s candidacy is “an interesting move, given his rise to fame.”
“But given Durr’s lack of political experience and his short stint in the state senate, it is hard to see him having a strong path to the nomination,” Koning said. “He will have competition from Spadea among Trump supporters, and his politics, ideology, and past incendiary comments will not play well on a statewide level with voters.”
Stories by Brent Johnson
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Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on X at @johnsb01.
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