South Jersey GOP candidates condemn Durr social media posts on abortion

Battered by late campaign season attacks on abortion, several South Jersey Republican lawmakers and candidates are distancing themselves from past comments made by one of their colleagues, state Sen. Ed Durr.

“The social media posts by Senator Ed Durr were offensive and unacceptable. They don't represent us or what we believe in any way,” reads a joint statement to POLITICO from the candidates in legislative districts 4 and 8.

Prior to his shocking upset of then-Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-Gloucester) in 2021, Durr (R-Gloucester) — who himself is facing a competitive challenge by former Assemblymember John Burzichelli (D-Gloucester) — made several inflammatory social media posts. Now a newly-formed Democratic political organization is highlighting and tying them to the other candidates with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of TV ads in the region.

The ad, by a nonprofit called Brighter Future Forward, says the candidates “would ban abortion and they stand by when their extreme colleague Ed Durr spews hate.” The ad then refers to a 2020 Facebook post Durr made in which he wrote “A woman does have a choice! Keep her legs closed,” as well as a post Durr “liked” that called for “spaying women like dogs.”

The Republicans in the joint statement are Assemblymembers Mike Torrissi (R-Atlantic) and Brandon Umba (R-Burlington), 8th District state Senate candidate Latham Tiver, 4th District state Senate candidate Chris Del Borrello and his Assembly running mates, Matt Walker and Amanda Esposito.

Republicans fully control the 8th Legislative District, where state Sen. Jean Stanfield (R-Burlington) is retiring. Democrats hold all three seats in the 4th District, where state Sen. Fred Madden (D-Gloucester) is retiring. Assemblymember Paul Moriarty (D-Gloucester) is running to replace Madden. Both districts are considered competitive and would be crucial to Republicans' longshot chance to taking back control in the Statehouse.

The response shows the potency of abortion as a campaign issue for Democrats, who spent the summer struggling to counter Republican campaign attacks on trans students and clean energy but have have seized on abortion rights during the final stretch of the campaign season. Since the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade last year, abortion rights have proven to be a motivating issue for the Democratic base and moderate suburban women, with voters on ballot questions in several states far more conservative than New Jersey repeatedly siding with keeping abortion legal and blocking restrictions.

Durr could not immediately be reached for comment.

“New Jersey Democrats know their extreme and radical agenda of attacking parental rights in our schools, banning gas cars and stoves, and building giant wind turbines off the Jersey Shore is deeply unpopular with voters,” the Republicans said. “These wildly dishonest attack ads are a last-ditch attempt to change the subject. It will fail on November 7.”

Republican leaders have emphasized that they do not plan to ban abortion, which the state Supreme Court and a recent state law have all protected. But Republican lawmakers have introduced several bills that would restrict abortions in various ways, and the last Republican governor, Chris Christie, cut funding for Planned Parenthood clinics. Democrats hold a 25-15 majority in the Senate and a 46-34 majority in the Assembly.

“We do oppose late-term abortion, while state Democrats have embraced an extreme new state law that expands abortion access up to the moment of birth,” the Republicans said. “We do support parental notification, while Democrats believe that a 15-year-old girl should need parental consent to get her ears pierced but are fine keeping her parents in the dark if she wants an abortion. That's insane.”

When Republicans controlled both houses of the Legislature more than 20 years ago, they passed a parental notification law on abortion, but it was struck down by the state Supreme Court.

Attacking Democrats for supporting abortion “up to the moment of birth” is not new. According to the health care nonprofit KFF, 1 percent of abortions are performed after 21 weeks of pregnancy for reasons including “fetal anomalies or maternal life endangerment, as well as barriers to care that cause delays in obtaining an abortion.”

While it’s unusual for Republican lawmakers and candidates to condemn the remarks of a state senator from their own party, Durr and Del Borrello were on different sides of a regional primary fight. A close Durr ally, Gloucester County Commissioner Nick De Silvio, ran a heated primary campaign against Del Borrello, for instance.