It was a shocking week in New Jersey politics. First, Democratic Governor Phil Murphy barely hung on to win an incredibly tight race that pollsters said was supposed to be an easy victory. And even more unexpected was the news that State Senate President Steve Sweeney — long called the second most powerful person in New Jersey — lost his seat to a virtually unknown Republican candidate, Edward Durr.

Sweeney still has not conceded the race, saying he wants to make sure every vote is counted. But if the results hold, it signals a massive change in the power dynamics of the state, with implications for Governor Murphy's second term and beyond.

WNYC's Matt Katz spent two decades covering New Jersey and joins us to try to make sense of the results. Speaking with Weekend Edition host David Furst he says, "this is easily in the top three craziest things I've ever seen in New Jersey politics, and New Jersey politics by nature is a crazy thing."