Ex-New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey’s comeback bid comes down to a runoff for Jersey City mayor

By MICHAEL R. SISAK
Associated Press

JERSEY CITY, N.J. (AP) — Former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey’s bid for a political comeback comes down to a one-on-one runoff Tuesday against an opponent who has denounced him and his scandal-stained exit from the governor’s office two decades ago as the epitome of “politics of the past.”

McGreevey and James Solomon are the last candidates standing in a race for mayor of Jersey City, a community across the Hudson River from Manhattan that is sometimes referred to as New York City’s sixth borough. Like last month’s elections in New York and elsewhere, the race has focused heavily on affordability, particularly the high cost of housing.

The contest advanced to a runoff after no candidate tallied more than 50% of the vote in the Nov. 4 general election, when seven people were on the ballot. Solomon, a city council member since 2017, finished first. McGreevey placed second. Both are Democrats, though the race is nonpartisan. Polls close at 8 p.m.

McGreevey is running for public office for the first time since he resigned as governor in 2004 — a stunning announcement remembered mostly for the spectacle of him declaring: “I am a gay American.” His exit was driven in part by controversy over his decision to hire a man he said was his lover, ex-Israeli naval officer Golan Cipel, as the state’s homeland security adviser in 2002 despite Cipel’s lack of qualifications.

He launched his mayoral campaign in 2023 with a social media video titled: “Second chances are central to who I am.”

“I want Jersey City to be Jersey City,” McGreevey said in a recent interview. “That is: an iconic city in the Garden State reflecting the hopes and the aspirations of families.”

McGreevey, 68, has pledged to be a one-term mayor, calling it “a great closing act” on his career. He has touted his experience as an elected leader — both as governor and before that as mayor of suburban Woodbridge Township — and said he’d back Solomon for mayor in four years.

Solomon, 41, said McGreevey’s background is “experience we don’t want.”

“There were just scandal after scandal after scandal,” Solomon said in a recent interview. “That, to me, is disqualifying.”

The race to run New Jersey’s second-largest city has centered on the cost of living, echoing national concerns. New downtown development catering to affluent New York City commuters is driving overall prices higher, and the city is struggling with a budget shortfall that threatens to hike property taxes. New York City’s mayor-elect, democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, won last month on an affordability platform over another ex-governor looking to make a comeback, Andrew Cuomo.

Jersey City is a swath of high-rises and immigrant neighborhoods with about 303,000 residents and a municipal budget of about $700 million. The current mayor, Steven Fulop, declined to seek a fourth term.

McGreevey has spent about $2.5 million on his campaign. Solomon has spent about $1.3 million.

Both candidates have vowed to stand up to President Donald Trump, whose administration is suing to end Jersey City’s so-called sanctuary city protections for immigrants.

“If Donald Trump chooses a fight, we’re not going to back down,” Solomon said.

McGreevey was born in Jersey City and returned to live there in 2015. It’s where his grandfather sought a new life after being forced out of Northern Ireland and where he’s made a new life for himself.

After a divorce, McGreevey attended an Episcopal seminary, earned a Master of Divinity degree, volunteered at a Harlem ministry and took steps to become a priest. He later moved into nonprofit work.

He’s currently executive director of the Jersey City-based New Jersey Reentry Corporation, a non-profit that helps formerly incarcerated people and returning veterans find work and housing.

Solomon grew up in nearby Millburn, has a master’s degree from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and was an aide to former Boston Mayor Thomas Menino.

He moved to Jersey City in 2013, is married and he and his wife have three daughters. In 2015, he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Now in full remission, he said that challenge inspired him to run for public office.

“I had one of these life is short moments,” Solomon said. “I was like, ‘you know, I think I can do something. I can give back to Jersey City, because Jersey City really had my back during my toughest time.’”

Solomon has vowed to take on developers and special interests, invest in public safety and work with the independent board of education to improve the city’s schools. He said he plans to build on legislation he passed as a council member, including banning rent-hiking algorithms and ensuring tenants have a right to legal counsel.

Along with affordability, McGreevey said, his immediate concern is an estimated $150 million budget hole that could hike property taxes 30% if not fixed.

He said he’ll devote his term to making sure “we’re on a road of fiscal sanity and to make sure that Jersey City’s working families aren’t driven out by the downtown crowd.”