TRENTON, NJ – When you think of the Trenton swamp, the first person to come to mind is twenty-year swamp creature, Democrat Senator Steve Sweeney. Sweeney has wielded unusual power during the Democrat’s majority control of both houses in Trenton for years.
Now, that is coming to an end, whether he wants to admit it or not. Sweeney claimed he was waiting on some magic vote dump that never happened before conceding. Last week, Sweeny said if 12,000 votes can be found in another county, they could be found for his election too.
Those votes never came and he still trails his opponent with all votes counted. Yet, like gubernatorial GOP candidate, he is refusing to admit his defeat.
Sweeney lost his re-election bid to Ed Durr, a truck driver on a shoestring budget.
With or without Sweeney, the Democrat party is moving forward. On Friday, Democrats will elect a successor to Sweeney in the state Senate. Three Democrats are in the race, including Nicholas Scaturi, Nia Gill, and Theresa Ruiz.
Durr now has a 2,212 vote lead over Sweeney and the race is all but officially over for the longtime Democrat power broker.