NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — An active member of the far-right Oath Keeper militia who attended the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot is running for office in New Jersey.
Edward Durfee Jr., 67, a Republican candidate for state Assembly, defended the values of the Oath Keepers — considered an extremist group by the Southern Poverty Law Center — while disavowing the deadly violence at the Capitol, in a New York Times feature Wednesday.
The former Marine is running in a deeply blue section of northern New Jersey as a libertarian promising to slash state agency budgets by 5% and cut taxes.
“I’m an oxymoron in government,” he told the Times, noting the lack of Republican interest in his Democratic district, where he collected 165 signatures to get on the ballot.
“I’m on the ballot because nobody challenged me,” he went on. “There’s that lack of participation among our citizens.”
The Oath Keepers are an anti-government militia determined to protect its own interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. It has claimed to have more than 30,000 dues-paying members and targets active and retired law enforcement and military members.
The group has inspired increased scrutiny after Jan. 6, with leaked membership logs prompting an investigation from New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has said any active law enforcement member in the group should be fired.
Durfree told the Times he did not enter the Capitol during the riot and that the violent behavior from those who did was “shameful.”
“It just morphed into something and got out of control,” Mr. Durfee said. “It’s just shameful.”