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19-Year-Old Running For School Board Trounces Member Who Helped Ruin His Senior Year

   DailyWire.com
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Nicholas Seppy, a 19-year-old high school graduate whose senior year was heavily disrupted by his school’s COVID-19 policies, decided to run against one of the school board members responsible – and he won.

The College Fix reported that Seppy, who graduated from Egg Harbor Township High School in New Jersey last year, defeated Terre Alabarda on the township’s school board “by an overwhelming 17-point margin.”

“With 100 percent of precincts reporting as of Wednesday afternoon, Seppy had received 4,042 votes to Alabarda’s 2,830,” the outlet reported. “After initially closing their doors in March 2020, Egg Harbor Township School District forced most of its students into entirely online learning or hybrid learning models with limited components of in-person instruction for most of the 2020-21 school year.”

Seppy did not respond to a request for comment from The Daily Wire, but he did tell the Fix in a statement that the school shutdowns that disrupted his senior year were “awful,” motivating him to run “out of a desire to serve in [his] community” and “give parents a voice in the district.”

Seppy told the outlet that, as a school board member, he wants to “expand civics education and increase vocational training opportunities for the township’s students,” according to the outlet. The Fix reported that Seppy’s “election platform also focused on pledging to represent the students’ best interests as well.”

Prior to running for school board, Seppy served as the student representative on the school board during the 2019-2020 school year.

Seppy’s win is not the only upset in New Jersey. As the Fix reported, Republicans are “poised to pick up almost a dozen seats in the New Jersey legislature, make significant down-ballot gains in local races.” Further, the GOP came within spitting distance of winning the governorship, which was finally called for Gov. Phil Murphy (D-NJ) on Wednesday afternoon.

And as The Daily Wire reported, one of the biggest upsets appears likely in the Garden State’s 3rd district, where commercial truck driver Edward Durr looks ready to defeat state Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-West Deptford). Sweeney has been Senate President since 2010 and has served in the state Senate since 2002.

Durr reportedly spent just $153 on his own primary campaign, while Sweeney is backed by one of the most powerful political machines in the state.

Durr’s low-key campaign and potential to oust Sweeney has shocked politicos, even if the race has received a fraction of the coverage as that of the gubernatorial election. The tightness of the race was so unexpected that the New Jersey Globe was forced to retract its article calling the race for Sweeney early in the night. The Globe initially reported within minutes of the polls closing that Sweeney, as well as Assemblyman John Burzichelli (D-Paulsboro) and Assemblyman Adam Taliaferro (D-Woolwich), won re-election.

The tightness of the race is especially shocking since Sweeney faced a well-funded challenge back in 2017 but won handily. As the New JerseyGlobe reported:

In 2017, the 3rd district hosted the most expensive state legislative race in American history. Republicans and the New Jersey Education Association, both fed up with Sweeney’s time as Senate President, funnelled millions towards Republican Fran Grenier, and Sweeney responded in kind. The ultimate price tag of the race was more than $24 million, but Sweeney won easily, 59-41%.

The three incumbents spent enough in 2021 to make the 3rd District races one of New Jersey’s five most expensive, even though, at least in the case of Sweeney, little pushback was made on the other side.

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