How Did Small Town Elections Fare in the November Elections?

Image Courtesy of NBC10 Philadelphia

By Jeremy Perillo

Much has been covered regarding the November gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey, particularly as America gears up for the 2022 midterm elections. Beyond those two races, there were smaller races across the country that yielded significant results, affecting both political and cultural norms.

While Phil Murphy’s lackluster win has remained at the forefront of political conversations following last week’s elections, another race in the Garden State has stuck out as an outlier: Edward Durr, a truck driver who only spent a few thousand dollars on his campaign and beat the New Jersey state Senate President, Steve Sweeney (D). In an era where political leadership is seemingly infallible at the polls, such an upset comes as Democrats deal with the effects of being the majority party in a contentious time. 

“The results of Tuesday’s election are in. All votes have been fairly counted. And I, of course, accept the results,” Sweeney said during a press conference announcing his concession. “I want to congratulate Mr. Durr and wish him the best of luck.”

Durr has never held public office and ran unsuccessfully for a state Assembly seat last election cycle. According to Politico NJ, Durr had only spent a collective $2,300 on the campaign one week before the election. He raised a total of $17,400.

His election is not without controversy, however. Some have called for Durr to immediately resign over past social media posts where he made attacks against Islam and downplayed the January 6th attack on the Capitol. Also, in an appearance on Fox News following his win, Durr could not outline his legislative priorities as he prepares to enter the New Jersey State Capitol. 

“Uh, I really don’t know,” Durr said. “That’s the key factor. I don’t know what I don’t know, so I will learn what I need to know. And I’m going to guarantee you one thing — I will be the voice, and people will hear me.”

Shifting to New Jersey’s neighboring state, New York, eyes were on Buffalo’s mayoral election, where incumbent Mayor Byron Brown, was running a write-in campaign after failing to win the Democratic primary, losing to Democratic socialist, India Walton. Despite being the only formal candidate on the ballot, Walton was beaten by Brown’s write-in efforts, to which he said the election was not “just a referendum on the City of Buffalo, it was a referendum on the future of our democracy.”

“I knew that this was going to be an uphill battle since the beginning,” Walton said in remarks that were labeled “definitely not” a concession speech. “Every vote needs to be counted. Right now it’s Walton against write-in, whoever that is. I think that who write-in is remains to be seen.”

Moving westward, one of the other notable smaller elections that took place last week was in Minneapolis. Incumbent mayor, Jacob Frey, was reelected in the city’s ranked-choice voting election. Following George Floyd’s murder last summer, Frey did not commit to abolishing the police department and was predicted to have some trouble at regaining his position.

Also on the ballot were three ballot questions, one of which proposed an amendment to the city charter that would eliminate the city’s police department and replace it with a public safety agency. 56% (80,506) of voters voted no, while 44% (62,813) voted yes. The charter amendment was drafted in response to calls to defund or dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department following the murder of George Floyd in the city last year.

These down-ballot elections that are often overlooked or ignored, give a sense of how cultural and political moods within communities are shifting. The Minneapolis question on defunding the police will contribute greatly to the national conversation on the issue, as individuals interested or opposed to the issue look and see what went wrong/right in the Minneapolis model. As the country gears up for the 2022 midterm elections, political scientists are predicting that the overall results will not bear well for Democrats. Looking at races, like the defeat of Steve Sweeney, may give Republican and Democratic strategists a clue at how to shift messaging/priorities before voters head to the polls in a year.