James Solomon was elected mayor of Jersey City on Tuesday, thwarting former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey\u2019s bid for a political comeback.<\/p>\n
Solomon, a city council member since 2017, defeated McGreevey in a runoff after they finished first and second in a general election last month with seven candidates on the ballot.<\/p>\n
Neither man received more than 50% of the Nov. 4 vote, sending the contest to an extra round.<\/p>\n
Solomon, 41, said he ran for mayor to make New Jersey\u2019s second-largest city more affordable, echoing national concerns about the cost of living. New 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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s schools. He said he plans to build on legislation he passed as a council member, including banning rent-hiking algorithms and ensuring that tenants have a right to legal counsel.<\/p>\n
The Jersey City race gained national attention because of McGreevey\u2019s candidacy.<\/p>\n
It was the first time he was running for public office since resigning as governor in 2004 \u2014 a stunning announcement remembered mostly for the spectacle of him declaring: \u201cI am a gay American.\u201d<\/p>\n
McGreevey\u2019s exit was driven in part by controversy over his decision to hire a man he said was his lover, former Israeli naval officer Golan Cipel, as the state\u2019s homeland security adviser in 2002 despite Cipel\u2019s lack of qualifications and inability to obtain necessary security clearances.<\/p>\n
Solomon said McGreevey represents the \u201cpolitics of the past\u201d and that while the ex-governor touted his experience, \u201cit\u2019s experience we don\u2019t want.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were just scandal after scandal after scandal,\u201d Solomon said in a recent interview. \u201cThat, to me, is disqualifying.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jersey City, a swath of high-rises and immigrant neighborhoods, has about 303,000 residents and a municipal budget of about $700 million. Across the Hudson River from Manhattan, it\u2019s in an area sometimes referred to as the Sixth Borough. New York City\u2019s mayor-elect, democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, won last month on an affordability platform over another ex-governor looking to make a comeback, Andrew Cuomo.<\/p>\n
The current mayor, Steven Fulop, made an unsuccessful bid for governor and declined to seek a fourth term.<\/p>\n
Solomon and McGreevey both vowed to stand up to President Donald Trump, whose administration is suing to end Jersey City\u2019s so-called sanctuary city protections for immigrants.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Donald Trump chooses a fight, we\u2019re not going to back down,\u201d Solomon said.<\/p>\n
Solomon grew up in nearby Millburn, has a master\u2019s degree from Harvard University\u2019s Kennedy School of Government and was an aide to former Boston Mayor Thomas Menino.<\/p>\n
He moved to Jersey City in 2013, is married and has three daughters.<\/p>\n
In 2015, about a month after his wedding, he was diagnosed with Hodgkin\u2019s Lymphoma. Now in full remission, he said that challenge inspired him to run for public office.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had one of these life-is-short moments, Solomon said. \u201dI was like, \u2018you 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.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Solomon said he plans to hire 100 new police officers and supports creating a civilian complaint review board for Jersey City, akin to the police oversight agency in New York City, which would give residents an hand in investigating police misconduct.<\/p>\n
He said he\u2019ll appoint a deputy mayor for education to coordinate between the city and the school district, which is independent of the municipal government.<\/p>\n
After the race narrowed to a runoff, Solomon received endorsements from three of the other candidates. He was also backed by U.S. Sen. Andy Kim and Newark Mayor Ras Baraka.<\/p>\n
Even McGreevey got in on the act, saying at a recent debate: \u201cJames Solomon is an incredibly likable young guy. And in four years, he\u2019ll be a great mayor.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, voters declared that Solomon\u2019s time is now.<\/p>\n
In neighboring Hoboken, which had a runoff election of its own on Tuesday, Councilwoman Emily Jabbour was projected to beat fellow city councilmember Dr. Michael Russo in the race for mayor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"James Solomon was elected mayor of Jersey City on Tuesday, thwarting former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey\u2019s bid…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":59228,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[111,11487,9,11,10,87],"class_list":{"0":"post-59227","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-decision-2025","9":"tag-jersey-city","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-headlines","12":"tag-new-york-news","13":"tag-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59227\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}