
Following the 2016 presidential election, the real estate business mogul from New York City Donald Trump won a significant upset victory over the democratic candidate for president Hillary Clinton. Clinton had been widely favored to win by a comfortable margin, which would have resulted in twelve consecutive years of democratic control of the executive branch following the Barack Obama presidency. Despite these projections, Trump won in very close contests in crucial swing states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia and Florida. By carrying thess key states Trump was able to achieve what has perhaps become known as the largest political upset in modern history. While Trump’s victory was massive on the federal scale, only one crazy election result at the state level that is perhaps similar to Trump’s 2016 feat was that of Mr. Ed Durr in the southern New Jersey (the county of Salem) legislative district three race in 2021.
In that election, while Republicans did not unseat the incumbent governor Phil Murphy, the race was much closer than expected and the Republican challenger Jack Ciattarell ran an aggressive and skillful campaign. Among the gains, Ed Durr featured prominently in terms of media attention and coverage. Durr was a retired truck driver from Salem county. He had spent only a few thousand dollars on his campaign, and went door to door attempting to generate local support. His opponent was none other than Steve Sweeney, the senate president who had hundreds of thousands of dollars in funds and was the most powerful state legislative representative in the Garden State. While Republicans lost seats in 2023, the election was still significant.
The incumbent President of the United States Joe Biden remains largely unpopular, and many people have alleged that he may be mentally declining and cognitively impaired due to his age. A recent article has stated that his wife, Jill, has been organizing his schedule, a sign of severe mental weakness.