00:01:27.040It's conservatives and independents and most Republicans versus Democrats, radicals, and Marxists.
00:01:34.340And some are fighting harder than others.
00:01:37.240Many of us have to fight harder, and many find that fight tough, uphill, and often lonely.
00:01:43.560But it is the fight of our lives, and we're fighting for this country.
00:01:47.240I consider myself to be first an American, a constitutional conservative, a populist, and a Republican.
00:01:55.660And when I say populist, a lot of people ask me what that means.
00:01:59.900Well, to me, it means you're for the people and are still, no matter what, of the people.
00:02:07.580And I believe that is the essence of being American.
00:02:11.560I want to do something a little different today on The Great America Show.
00:02:16.820I want to introduce you to a terrific guy, a great American who has done the impossible.
00:02:24.920He has been the political version of David versus Goliath in the great state of New Jersey.
00:02:31.640And he's a truck driver, and now he's also a New Jersey state senator because he knocked over the most powerful Democrat in the state legislature.
00:02:45.440He did so by a margin of a little over 2,000 votes.
00:02:50.360It was a cliffhanger, a nail-biter all the way to the end back in November.
00:02:55.860And he now is the winner, even though it was contested there for a while.
00:03:04.300And he is just about to take on the establishment.
00:03:08.880It's a part-time job, but he'll find taking on the establishment, I assure you, to be a full-time job.
00:03:15.560So, please welcome to The Great America Show, Ed Durr.
00:03:40.240Although my daughter actually takes a little problem with how the mainstream media always portrays and says a truck driver beats the Senate president because she takes it that they were meaning it in a very disparaging way.
00:03:57.860And so I say, look, as long as they're saying my name right, I don't care what they say or anything.
00:04:03.560Well, Ed, when I say it, I say it with great respect.
00:04:06.740I want to get into what truck you do drive because I'm one of those guys who drives trucks myself.
00:04:13.300I don't call myself a truck driver, but I was driving a truck at the age of 14.
00:04:19.400I was raised, both of my parents worked, and I was taught very early and throughout my life to respect a man or woman for what they do, for the jobs they have.
00:04:32.380And I don't care what they pay, what the jobs are, a man and a woman respect others for the fact they have a job and that they work hard for their families.
00:04:45.380And by the way, that means they're working for all the rest of us, too, and this great country.
00:04:49.960So when I say it, I say it proudly for any man, any woman in this country.
00:04:56.240We need to get back to respecting people and anybody who denigrates another person for their job title.
00:05:04.260That isn't the way America was built, and it isn't the destiny for this nation to have a bunch of people looking down their noses at other Americans.
00:05:13.260It just doesn't work like that, do you think?
00:05:48.780And if you spend any time on the road, and my wife and I take some road trips occasionally, I mean, when you see these big 18-wheelers and box trucks rolling down the road, I mean, there are more trucks than ever on these roads.
00:06:03.420And this country needs trucks and truck drivers more than ever.
00:06:08.480You see, nearly every truck, as you go down the road, said, we're hiring.
00:06:15.020So people better wake up to the fact that we need everybody in this country to make this country work, and respect is due each and every citizen of this country.
00:06:27.480And I'll tell you, I love truck drivers because it's sort of part of my background, and truck drivers got us through COVID.
00:06:37.820They've gotten us through so much in this country's lifespan, and we'll do so forward.
00:06:46.860I want to ask you, what kind of truck do you drive?
00:06:50.360Well, right now, I'm driving a Cascadia Freightliner.
00:06:55.660I work for Raymore and Flanagan, so I'm a company driver.
00:07:00.320I used to do over the road for another company back in the day, and I've been into pretty much all the states.
00:08:00.760You know, I've driven pretty much every truck.
00:08:03.680You speaking of when you were a kid, 14, that's how I learned.
00:08:08.060My dad, you know, just, you know, put me behind the wheel of vehicles when I was 14, 15 years old, you know, taught me how to drive.
00:08:16.600I actually did not know you needed a special license when I first started driving commercial vehicles.
00:08:23.160I remember as a kid, I was driving an international with a little trailer on the back that we could put 22 tons of hay on.
00:08:38.200And it was just such great fun, and I never—you know, you feel like a man no matter what your age.
00:08:45.080And, you know, I was underage, I guess is the way to put it, to be driving that thing.
00:08:49.960But that's when you—you know, it's just a great experience for particularly a young guy.
00:08:54.900Anyway, the idea that this country right now is, you know, like your daughter said, I mean, there is this view about people looking down or taking offense.
00:09:09.300I mean, it's all there in one big brew in this country.
00:09:12.800But the fact is, you did something that every American dreams of.
00:09:18.980You talk about Mr. Durr goes to Washington while Mr. Durr goes to Trenton.
00:09:23.700And I got to believe most Americans all over this country are just still cheering you to this day.
00:09:30.360What has been the reaction of the Republican—and I've got to start here—what's been the reaction, first of all, of your neighbors, your friends, your family to your achievement?
00:09:41.280Well, it's been a great response from everybody.
00:09:46.680Everybody's just in awe and, you know, very happy for me.
00:09:50.200My family has—I mean, I wouldn't have done this without my family's support.
00:11:24.720I had, you know, Jonathan Zammons, who ran for sheriff in Gloucester County and won, by the way, the first African-American to ever win sheriff in Gloucester County.
00:12:07.060And that's what I wanted to keep instilled in people.
00:12:09.920They could see that with hard work, you can actually make a difference.
00:12:16.960You can get in there and win something that most people said was impossible, as you use the term David versus Goliath.
00:12:24.240Well, literally, it's funny when you use that term because I had said it early on, and there was a woman who actually wrote a blog about me who gave me an endorsement through the New Jersey Philly Pack.
00:12:41.040Yeah, you know, when we talk about David versus Goliath, some people think that's a little bit of overstatement, and perhaps I was being a little hyperbolic.
00:12:50.140But people have to understand that the senator, you ran against the incumbent, the longest-serving senator in New Jersey state history.
00:13:01.020David Sweeney was a powerhouse and a man that of all of the incumbents you could have chosen to run against, the most powerful, the most entrenched, the most establishment, and the great legislative pal.
00:13:19.220He was the yang to Governor Murphy's yang, and together, I mean, they were taking this state, they were taking it down to a level we just couldn't have imagined with heavy taxation, with outrageous regulation,
00:13:35.480and what is a just solid left-wing agenda that everybody in this state who has any sense is hoping will be broken with Sweeney's defeat, and you're taking his seat in Trent.
00:13:51.240Well, it was, you know, as some argue, have even argued that he was the most powerful person in New Jersey, given the fact that he decided what bills would go before Governor Murphy.
00:14:04.380But, you know, he chose not to do his job for these last 20 months.
00:14:10.960When the COVID hit, Governor Murphy started ruling by fiat, you know, and Senator Sweeney did not push back, did not challenge him on any subject matter.
00:14:32.480You had the one-third small businesses close up permanently.
00:14:36.580You had people leaving the state left and right.
00:14:40.280I mean, seven out of ten moves were out of the state.
00:14:43.360You know, you cannot continue to, and then on top of that, you're telling people they can't go to church.
00:14:48.040When your religion is the most important to you, especially in time of crisis.
00:14:54.280And, you know, when, you know, now we know more about the virus, but in the beginning, it was scary to a lot of people.
00:15:03.020And to tell somebody they couldn't go to God and pray, that's just wrong.
00:15:08.760There was so much wrong with how the Democratic, particularly the Democratic governors in this country reacted.
00:15:17.520They used it as, frankly, a rationalization for their own authoritarian impulses.
00:15:24.180And as you said, whether it is Murphy in New Jersey, whether it is Cuomo or was Cuomo in New York, and Gavin Newsom in California, whoever it is, they ruled by fiat.
00:15:41.100And they meant for people to follow their orders, follow their mandates.
00:15:45.280Now we have in Washington, of course, the chief mandator, Joe Biden, as president.
00:15:54.820And I think he's getting the message after seeing what happened, for example, in Virginia, what happened in New Jersey with your race, and the ascendancy of other Republicans as well.
00:16:06.680Well, not many, but some, into the state legislature, I think they're getting a bit of a wake-up call.
00:16:14.480I don't know that Murphy, the Democratic governor of this state, is, I don't even know if he can assimilate the data that has been put in front of him, because he is so arrogant and so elitist that it's stunning.
00:16:29.700The commercials that we're running about him, showing him saying, basically, to people, if taxes, high taxes, is your problem, your issue, then New Jersey probably isn't the state for you.
00:16:44.260If every person in the state didn't say, you know, then the hell with you, governor.
00:16:48.560I can't believe he got, well, I can believe, because the registration for Democrats is massively beyond that of Republicans, but the idea that we would put a man in office who talked to the people that way is just so ignorant of him.
00:17:07.200And I think, unfortunately, the people in New Jersey need to rise up on this and just stop it before it gets worse.
00:18:28.520This country, if we lose our right of choice, we are in real trouble because this is, when you mandate a vaccine, that wasn't even done for the sock polio vaccine.
00:18:47.260We're to be informed by our government.
00:18:50.340By the way, instead of informing us, now misinform us or disinform us.
00:18:55.740We have propaganda operations instead of news outlets amongst our national media.
00:19:02.100It's very difficult for the American people to get the straight scoop on anything.
00:19:10.840And thank goodness we have so many platforms and different outlets for news and information because otherwise, this country right now, if we were left to the devices of these two political parties and the elites, the globalist elites of Wall Street,
00:19:32.100corporate America, we would be in so much trouble.
00:19:37.760It's just, it's fearsome to think about.
00:19:41.500And to see you win, again, I bring it back to your victory.
00:19:46.860The people in New Jersey have got to be feeling better about themselves and more hopeful.
00:19:51.260And people don't realize, and I should say to all of the people who don't live in the great state of New Jersey, your taxes, you better be thankful because your taxes are much lower than I assure you that we pay in this state.
00:20:07.540We live on a farm up in Northwest New Jersey, up in Sussex County, beautiful.
00:20:33.720But I want to turn, if I may, before, you know, in that sense, I want to turn to why you did run, because I also am a believer in the Second Amendment.
00:20:48.080I'm a righteous believer in the Second Amendment in this country.
00:20:52.400I think it's fundamental to our rights as citizens.
00:20:55.660And that's what, that is what prompted you to run, isn't it?
00:21:00.780Well, yeah, I mean, I believe that every individual should have the right of self-protection.
00:21:06.580No government should be able to tell an individual their manner in which they can protect themselves.
00:21:12.620And so when I went to apply for a concealed carry, I've had my, you know, firearms purchase license, and then I went for a concealed carry.
00:21:21.680And I was laughed at saying, there's not a chance in the world you're going to get this.
00:21:26.180I mean, yeah, New Jersey technically has concealed carry.
00:21:30.780But it's, it's, it's a, it's a dream to get it for, unless you're politically connected, you know, I mean, because they have this written statement of justifiable need.
00:21:47.560Well, that, that's, that's a judgment call.
00:21:52.920I mean, I justifiable need, uh, there's gangs down the street or you're, you work in a bad area or you, or you carry the bank deposits for a store or jewelry company, you know?
00:22:33.700I went down to the, to the barracks, this state patrol, uh, when I wanted to buy a, a pistol, uh, years ago.
00:22:41.360So, and I thought, well, I'll just get a, you know, I've, I've had people, well, I've had incidents, uh, in which people have, uh, you know, uh, I'll just say it straight out.
00:23:11.200Dobbs, uh, you know, this just won't happen just so, you know, and of course, everybody knows in the state of New Jersey that you just can't get a concealed carry, uh, permit.
00:23:22.880No matter, uh, any of the circumstances, uh, as you've just described the Met, uh, what, what do you, what do you think is going to be, uh, the reception in Trenton, uh, in the state legislature to your ideas?
00:23:38.980Well, I mean, clearly I've had, as you were speaking, uh, it's really been a resonating factor throughout the state because I've gotten emails and phone calls and letters from people all over the state, you know, congratulating me also asking for my input in certain areas.
00:23:58.460Uh, as far as my reception to, I've had a very good reception to my fellow Republicans when we had the caucus a few days after the election, as far as the Democrats.
00:24:10.120I have not really spoken to any other than having that phone call with Senator Sweeney.
00:24:33.880Uh, I have to say, uh, Sweeney, after basically saying that, uh, he, he wanted to recount, he was going to, he wasn't going to concede.
00:24:42.800He ultimately did the right thing and did concede.
00:24:46.160Uh, how was that phone call with the, with Sweeney?
00:24:50.040Well, as I said, you know, I mean, it went very well.
00:24:53.280He and I, you know, had a very pleasant conversation and I just, you know, told him, you know, if there was anything he ever needed just to reach out.
00:25:53.480If you have a state government that is growing, and if you have a state government that has higher bills for pensions of former employees of the state, uh, you have a huge problem.
00:26:04.720And when the taxpayers, uh, and I think this is one of the most stunning situations, it's not just New Jersey, but across the country, public employee unions have the most generous retirement and healthcare benefits in the country.
00:26:18.400And that means that a taxpayer who is making on average, let's, let's call the number an average around the country.
00:26:26.540It's going to be right at $50,000 a year.
00:26:29.260And you've got employees in, uh, state government, county government, local government, uh, making a lot of money with huge, huge, uh, pension, uh, liabilities as a result of, uh, their employment, uh, in municipal government, state, county, uh, you name it.
00:26:49.900And we've got to make this country make sense where we've, we've created us a class of citizen, uh, that, uh, goes beyond the people.
00:26:58.760It makes no sense to me whatsoever that the average pay for an American would be a half as much as the benefits for a retired public employee.