Edward Durr: NJ Senator made racist posts, compared vax mandates to holocaust
While all eyes were on Virginia's gubernatorial race, in the garden state, a trucker delivered a shocking defeat to incumbent State Senator Steve Sweeney. 58-year-old Edward Durr managed to win his bid in New Jersey, without being vetted by the Republican Party. After the shock victory, it appears there's more to Durr than meets the eye, with a new article exposing his racist, homophobic, and anti-Semitic social media posts.
Durr isn't the only GOP politician with a problematic past. Ever since Donald Trump became President in 2016, more and more extreme candidates have been winning elections nationwide. In New York City, Curtis Sliwa was the party's pick of Mayor, despite having called Jews out for "siphoning off social services" in the past. Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has been well-known for sharing QAnon and other conspiracy theories, but still found her way to the US House of Representatives. Back in June, Greene was trolled for visiting a holocaust museum in Washington DC, days after comparing mask mandates to the Star of David.
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But while Greene's posts have largely been wild conspiracy theories, Durr appears to have gone a step further. NJ.com revealed multiple shocking social media posts (some of which are still up) made by Durr, which range from outrageous to troubling.
Who is Edward Durr?
Before being elected, Durr spent 25 years as a commercial truck driver, most recently hired by New York-based furniture brand Raymour & Flanigan. Originally from Gloucester City, Durr now lives in Swedesboro according to his Facebook page. Other posts on his Facebook page indicate he sides with the GOP on most issues like the Second Amendment, mask mandates, and vaccinations. He has shared multiple anti-vax and anti-mask posts in the past, but that's the least of his troubling social media posts.
NJ.com uncovered a host of other troubling posts Durr made in the past. In one 2019 tweet, he said, "Mohammed was a pedophile! Islam is a false religion! Only fools follow muslim teachings! It is a cult of hate!" In August 2021, he compared vaccine mandates to the holocaust, and in 2017 and 2018 called Senator Robert Menendez a "pedophile". He's also taken shots at Vice President Kamala Harris. Once, he also misgendered Wikileaks whistleblower Chelsea Manning, tweeting, "Of course the she/him s**t wants no prisons. Shim should be in one."
Following the August 2017 Charlottesville rally, Durr tweeted, "Yes, thugs in Charlottesville on both sides. Neo-Nazi & White supremacist....and on left BLM and Antifa." The Council on American-Islamic Relations denounced Durr, and said, "Islamophobes and other bigots should not be in policy-making positions impacting the lives of Americans of all faiths and backgrounds." Nonetheless, it appears he has won the election, with a 51.8% to 48.2% lead over Sweeney.
Notably, Durr launched a bid for the lower house in 2019 and the Logan City Council in 2020 but failed. It appears the second attempt was a lucky one, with Durr having only spent $2,200 dollars on the campaign. He claimed he only spent $153, but campaign records show a higher, but still extremely modest number. By contrast, Sweeney spent $490,000 on the race, on what would have been his seventh term.
The GOP never formally endorsed Durr as their candidate, and it is unclear if they will do so now that he is expected to win. He is widely expected to support the party's lines though on key issues, including abortion which he opposes, and reducing taxes. Beyond that, little else is known about Durr, who is a grandfather of six and father to three.