N.J. Senate President Blames ‘Red Wave’ as He Concedes to Republican Underdog
The New York Times
The loss by Mr. Sweeney, a Democrat and the second most powerful lawmaker in New Jersey, suggest an erosion of Democratic support in suburban and rural areas.
Stephen M. Sweeney, the second most powerful lawmaker in New Jersey, admitted defeat on Wednesday, eight days after voters elected a Republican truck driver who ran on a shoestring budget in one of the biggest political upsets in state history.
Mr. Sweeney, the Democratic Senate president and a union leader, blamed his loss on overwhelming Republican turnout in his South Jersey district, which is about 15 miles outside Philadelphia.
“It was a red wave,” he said in the State House complex in Trenton where he has governed with an iron fist since 2010, when he first took over as president of the Senate.