Former Gov. Jim McGreevey and James Solomon advance to runoff in race for Jersey City mayor

JERSEY CITY, N.J. (AP) — Former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey is going another round in his attempted political comeback, more than two decades after he resigned from office.

McGreevey will take on James Solomon in a Dec. 2 runoff election in the race for mayor of Jersey City, the state’s second-largest city.

McGreevey and Solomon were the top two vote getters in Tuesday’s nonpartisan election but neither received more than 50% of the vote, forcing a runoff.

Both candidates say they’re better situated to address affordability of the city. And they’re not shy about drawing contrasts.

“The runoff will be about competing visions, experiences, and records for Jersey City. While Mr. Solomon served on the council for eight years, James has done nothing to address pocketbook concerns and the daily lives of working families,” McGreevey said.

And in a statement, Solomon went on the attack, too: “While I have fought my entire career against the corrupt political machine that makes everything more expensive, Jim McGreevey is the living embodiment of the corrupt, failed, politicians of the past. He already had his chance, and he resigned in disgrace.”

They were among seven candidates on the ballot vying to replace Mayor Steven Fulop, who declined to run for a fourth four-year term leading the city of about 300,000 residents.

McGreevey, a Democrat, was born in Jersey City, across the Hudson River from Manhattan, and returned to live there in 2015. He is running for public office for the first time since resigning as governor in 2004 after saying he’d had an extramarital affair with a man he’d installed as a state homeland security official. He left office after declaring “I am a gay American.”

Solomon, elected to the Jersey City council in 2017, wants more affordable housing and better schools, and has vowed to take on developers and special interests. He is a former aide to the mayor of Boston and is a Hodgkin’s Lymphoma survivor.

Solomon said he’ll have a deputy mayor for education to coordinate between the city and the school district. He said he has a plan 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.

McGreevey, 68, left politics for many years after stepping down.

He got divorced, 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 the executive director of the Jersey City-based New Jersey Reentry Corporation, which helps recently released prisoners reintegrate into society.

McGreevey said he was interested in returning to public service because he say Jersey City at a “tipping point,” with affordability problems due to rising housing prices and what he says are underperforming schools.

The race has 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.

Some candidates have proposed affordable housing requirements for new developments, capping rent increases and reducing property taxes, particularly for working class families and senior citizens.

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Geoff Mulvihill contributed to this report from Haddonfield, New Jersey.

Michael R. Sisak, The Associated Press