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Mayoral election in Jersey City, New Jersey (2025)
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| 2025 Jersey City elections |
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| Election dates |
| Filing deadline: August 21, 2025 |
| General election: November 4, 2025 Runoff election: December 2, 2025 |
| Election stats |
| Offices up: Mayor |
| Total seats up: 1 (click here for other city elections) |
| Other municipal elections |
| U.S. municipal elections, 2025 |
James Solomon defeated Jim McGreevey in the nonpartisan runoff general election for mayor of Jersey City, New Jersey on Dec 2, 2025. Incumbent Mayor Steven Fulop chose to run in the Democratic primary for governor of New Jersey rather than seek a fourth term. Click here for detailed results.
McGreevey and Solomon advanced to the runoff after neither received 51% of the vote in the general election on Nov. 4, 2025.[1] In the general election, Solomon received 29% of the vote and McGreevey received 25% in a field of seven candidates. The last time that a Jersey City mayoral election ended in a runoff was in 2001.[2]
While Jersey City municipal elections are officially nonpartisan, both McGreevey and Solomon identified as Democrats. Fulop also identified as a Democrat, meaning Solomon's victory kept the office under Democratic control.
According to CBS News, the race "focused on a slew of issues, including housing affordability, police and public safety reform and accountability, improving schools, fixing quality of life concerns such as traffic congestion and increasing government transparency."[3]
McGreevey was, at the time of the election, the director of the New Jersey Reentry Corporation.[4] He previously served as governor of New Jersey from 2002 to 2004 and mayor of Woodbridge Township, New Jersey, from 1992 to 2002. McGreevey also served in the New Jersey Senate from 1994 to 1998 and the New Jersey General Assembly from 1990 to 1992.
Heading into the election, McGreevey said, “I’m not running to build a political career, I’m running to fix the city I love. For four years, I’ll focus on the fundamentals: cleaner streets, safer neighborhoods, better schools, stronger senior services, and a city government that actually works for working families.”[5]
Solomon was first elected to represent Ward E on the Jersey City Council in 2017. Previously, Solomon was an adjunct professor at multiple colleges in New Jersey and as an aide to the former Boston Mayor Thomas Menino.[6]
Heading into the election, Solomon said, “Jersey City needs change. It needs an affordable Jersey City and it’s not going to become affordable if we go back to the same corrupt machine playbook that has failed residents of Jersey City year after year after year.”[7]
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D), Jersey City Council President Joyce Watterman, and Hudson County Executive Craig Guy (D) endorsed McGreevey.[8][9] U.S. Sen. Andrew Kim (D), Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, and Hudson County Commissioner William O’Dea (D) endorsed Solomon.[9]
Elections
Click on the tabs below to show more information about those topics.
Candidates and results
General runoff election
General runoff election for Mayor of Jersey City
James Solomon defeated Jim McGreevey in the general runoff election for Mayor of Jersey City on December 2, 2025.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | James Solomon (Nonpartisan) | 67.9 | 14,402 |
 | Jim McGreevey (Nonpartisan) | 32.1 | 6,821 | |
| Total votes: 21,223 | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
General election
General election for Mayor of Jersey City
The following candidates ran in the general election for Mayor of Jersey City on November 4, 2025.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | James Solomon (Nonpartisan) | 29.1 | 17,200 |
| ✔ | | Jim McGreevey (Nonpartisan) | 25.4 | 15,042 |
| William O'Dea (Nonpartisan) | 21.6 | 12,750 | ||
 | Mussab Ali (Nonpartisan) | 18.3 | 10,843 | |
 | Joyce Watterman (Nonpartisan) | 3.9 | 2,282 | |
 | Christina Freeman (Nonpartisan) | 1.5 | 865 | |
| Kalki Jayne-Rose (Nonpartisan) | 0.3 | 151 | ||
| Total votes: 59,133 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Additional elections on the ballot
- See also: New Jersey elections, 2025
April 15, 2025
June 10, 2025
- New Jersey gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial election, 2025
- New Jersey General Assembly elections, 2025
- Municipal elections in Essex County, New Jersey (2025)
- Municipal elections in Hudson County, New Jersey (2025)
November 4, 2025
- New Jersey gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial election, 2025
- New Jersey General Assembly elections, 2025
- Municipal elections in Essex County, New Jersey (2025)
- Municipal elections in Hudson County, New Jersey (2025)
- City elections in Jersey City, New Jersey (2025)
- Jersey City Public Schools, New Jersey, elections (2025)
December 2, 2025
Candidate comparison
Candidate profiles
This section includes candidate profiles that may be created in one of two ways: either the candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey, or Ballotpedia staff may compile a profile based on campaign websites, advertisements, and public statements after identifying the candidate as noteworthy. For more on how we select candidates to include, click here.
Incumbent: No
Political Office:
- Governor of New Jersey (2002-2004)
- Mayor of Woodbridge Township, New Jersey (1992-2002)
- New Jersey Senate, District 19 (1994-1998)
- New Jersey General Assembly, District 19 (1990-1992)
Biography:
McGreevey received a bachelor’s degree from Columbia University, a master’s degree from Harvard University, a master’s degree from The General Theological Seminary, and a J.D. from Georgetown University. His professional experience includes working as the director of the New Jersey Reentry Corporation.
Show sources
Sources: James McGreevey 2025 Campaign Website, "Affordability," accessed November 19, 2025; James McGreevey 2025 Campaign Website, "Public Safety," accessed November 19, 2025; James McGreevey 2025 Campaign Website, "Economic Development," accessed November 19, 2025; LinkedIn, "Jim McGreevey," accessed November 19, 2025
This information was current as of the candidate's run for Mayor of Jersey City in 2025.
Incumbent: No
Political Office:
- Jersey City Council, Ward E (Assumed office: 2018)
Biography:
Solomon received a bachelor’s degree from Pomona College and a master’s degree from Harvard University. His professional experience includes working as an adjunct professor at Hudson County Community College, Saint Peter's University, and New Jersey City University.
Show sources
This information was current as of the candidate's run for Mayor of Jersey City in 2025.
Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey responses
Ballotpedia asks all federal, state, and local candidates to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
No candidate in this race completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey.
Campaign advertisements
Election competitiveness
Polls
- See also: Ballotpedia's approach to covering polls
We provide results for polls from a wide variety of sources, including media outlets, social media, campaigns, and aggregation websites, when available. No polls were available for this election. To notify us of polls published in this election, please email us.
Endorsements
Click the links below to see official endorsement lists published on candidate campaign websites for any candidates that make that information available. If you are aware of a website that should be included, please email us.
Election spending
Campaign spending
Candidates in this election submitted campaign finance reports to the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission. Click here to access those reports.
Satellite spending
- See also: Satellite spending
Satellite spending describes political spending not controlled by candidates or their campaigns; that is, any political expenditures made by groups or individuals that are not directly affiliated with a candidate. This includes spending by political party committees, super PACs, trade associations, and 501(c)(4) nonprofit groups.[10][11][12]
If available, this section includes links to online resources tracking satellite spending in this election. To notify us of a resource to add, email us.
Mayoral partisanship
Jersey City has a Democratic mayor. As of December 2025, 66 mayors in the largest 100 cities by population are affiliated with the Democratic Party, 23 are affiliated with the Republican Party, one is affiliated with the Libertarian Party, three are independents, five identify as nonpartisan or unaffiliated, and two mayors' affiliations are unknown. Click here for a list of the 100 largest cities' mayors and their partisan affiliations.
Mayoral elections are officially nonpartisan in most of the nation's largest cities. However, many officeholders are affiliated with political parties. Ballotpedia uses one or more of the following sources to identify each officeholder's partisan affiliation: (1) direct communication from the officeholder, (2) current or previous candidacy for partisan office, or (3) identification of partisan affiliation by multiple media outlets.
About the city
- See also: Jersey City, New Jersey
Jersey City is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey. As of 2020, its population was 292,449.
City government
- See also: Mayor-council government
The city of Jersey City uses a strong mayor and city council system. In this form of municipal government, the city council serves as the city's primary legislative body while the mayor serves as the city's chief executive.[13]
Demographics
The following table displays demographic data provided by the United States Census Bureau.
| Demographic Data for Jersey City, New Jersey | ||
|---|---|---|
| Jersey City | New Jersey | |
| Population | 292,449 | 9,288,994 |
| Land area (sq mi) | 14 | 7,354 |
| Race and ethnicity** | ||
| White | 33.6% | 65.5% |
| Black/African American | 23.1% | 13.4% |
| Asian | 26.1% | 9.7% |
| Native American | 0.6% | 0.3% |
| Pacific Islander | 0% | 0% |
| Other (single race) | N/A | 6.4% |
| Multiple | 6.8% | 4.8% |
| Hispanic/Latino | 26.9% | 20.4% |
| Education | ||
| High school graduation rate | 88.4% | 90.3% |
| College graduation rate | 49.8% | 40.7% |
| Income | ||
| Median household income | $76,444 | $85,245 |
| Persons below poverty level | 15.7% | 9.7% |
| Source: population provided by U.S. Census Bureau, "Decennial Census" (2020). Other figures provided by U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2015-2020). | ||
| **Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here. | ||
Election context
To see results from past elections in Jersey City, click here.
2025 battleground elections
- See also: Battlegrounds
This was a battleground election. Other 2025 battleground elections included:
- Mayoral election in St. Louis, Missouri, 2025 (March 4 top-two primary)
- Miami Board of Commissioners District 4 special election (2025)
- New Hampshire House of Representatives elections, 2026
See also
| Jersey City, New Jersey | New Jersey | Municipal government | Other local coverage |
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External links
Footnotes
- ↑ PIX11, "What to know about the upcoming mayor election in Jersey City," November 19, 2025
- ↑ NJ.com, "In Jersey City, runoff elections rarely change initial outcome," November 6, 2015
- ↑ CBS News, "Former Gov. Jim McGreevey, James Solomon advance to runoff in race for Jersey City mayor," November 5, 2025
- ↑ LinkedIn, "Jim McGreevey," accessed November 20, 2025
- ↑ New Jersey Globe, "McGreevey Says He’ll Serve Just One Term, Focus On Delivering Results, Not Politics And Fundraising," November 13, 2025
- ↑ LinkedIn, "James Solomon," accessed November 20, 2025
- ↑ PIX11, "Jersey City mayor’s race: Get to know James Solomon," November 18, 2025
- ↑ James McGreevey Campaign Website 2025, "Endorsements," accessed November 20, 2025
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 NJ, "Who should lead Jersey City? Big political names pick sides in McGreevey-Solomon showdown," November 11, 2025
- ↑ OpenSecrets.org, "Outside Spending," accessed December 12, 2021
- ↑ OpenSecrets.org, "Total Outside Spending by Election Cycle, All Groups," accessed December 12, 2021
- ↑ National Review.com, "Why the Media Hate Super PACs," December 12, 2021
- ↑ City of Jersey City Municipal Code, Art. II.3-3, Art. III.3-10, accessed October 28, 2014
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