Ed Durr drops out of N.J. governor race, says he isn’t endorsing Bill Spadea like announcement suggested
“I’m supporting the conservative MAGA movement," Durr said. "I did not endorse anyone.”
Ed Durr, also known as “Ed the Trucker,” dropped out of the GOP primary for New Jersey governor on Monday, but he isn’t throwing his support behind Bill Spadea in the way a campaign announcement suggested.
“I’m supporting the conservative MAGA movement,” Durr, 61, said on a phone call Monday afternoon, after he was out driving his truck earlier that morning. “I did not endorse anyone.”
Durr, of Gloucester County, said in an interview with The Inquirer that he wouldn’t be allowed to participate in the debates for the race because he didn’t raise enough money to qualify for matching funds, which would inhibit him from getting his message out. He also said he doesn’t want to split the conservative vote.
“We’re just not raising money,” he said. “Everything’s dried up.”
Candidates for governor were required to raise at least $580,000 from private contributors to receive public matching dollars for their campaigns. Durr did not appear to report any contributions to the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission as of Monday, but he said he raised about $25,000.
Durr was viewed as a long shot compared to Spadea, Jack Ciattarelli, and State Sen. Jon Bramnick, but he’s surpassed his odds before. In 2021, Durr defeated then-longtime Democratic state Senate Speaker Steve Sweeney with a shoestring budget, flipping the district and serving one term. Sweeney is now running in a crowded Democratic primary for governor.
A news release sent out minutes before the phone call that suggested Durr is supporting Spadea in the primary would need to be corrected, he said. Durr emphasized that he doesn’t have plans to endorse anyone in the primary but did not rule it out for the future.
But the release, which was sent out by consultant Steve Kush on behalf of Durr’s campaign, criticized Bramnick and Ciattarelli for not being loyal to Trump and quoted Durr saying that he’s ending his campaign so Spadea “can use all his campaign resources to defeat the two never-Trumpers in this race and carry a conservative message to November.”
Bramnick has been open about his disapproval of Trump. Spadea and Ciattarelli, meanwhile, have both been calling attention to any anti-Trump statements the other one has made in the past while framing themselves as the most loyal to the president.
That leaves Durr in a tough position as a Trump loyalist.
» READ MORE: The first N.J. Republican gubernatorial debate sets the stage for a nasty primary
“I’m the only one who was running who has never said anything negative about President Trump,” Durr said. “It’s unfortunate that I don’t have the funds to campaign.”
Durr told reporters earlier this year that he would not drop out of the race despite his lagging fundraising numbers.
“Campaigns shouldn’t be about money, it should be about the people,” he said after the first GOP debate in February.