The matchup -- a Dec. 2 runoff between 68-year-old McGreevey vs. 41-year-old Councilmember James Solomon -- has become the clearest test yet of whether New Jersey Democrats are ready to let an ascendant anti-machine wing topple a once-formidable establishment figure.
Last year, Sen. Andy Kim took down the establishment-backed First Lady Tammy Murphy in a Democratic primary. But it would be an extraordinary turn in Jersey City, a place long synonymous with machine dominance and political corruption -- from legendary boss Frank Hague to a mayor in the 1990s who was removed from office, went to prison and then back to work for the city. Even though the city's local elections are technically nonpartisan, the runoff has become an unmistakable proxy battle between the Democrats' old guard and a more liberal faction that's already been reshaping New Jersey politics.
Solomon shocked casual observers by getting the most votes on Nov. 4 against the formidable former governor, who launched his campaign early and outspent Solomon by nearly 2 to 1. But in a seven-way race, Solomon's 29 percent to McGreevey's 25 percent, wasn't enough to seal the deal and sent the race to the runoff.
Old school machine-style politicians are backing McGreevey against a group of progressives who killed the decades-old "county line" -- a ballot advantage wielded by party organizations that kept ambitious Democrats in line for decades. Even though there was never a county line in Jersey City's local elections, the way the race has become a cause célèbre for the faction of Democrats who killed it.
Kim, whose 2024 Senate campaign defeated Murphy before the Democratic primary votes were cast, won a six-year term after an election in which he owed few political favors to anybody.
Since then, Kim has fashioned himself as an anti-kleptocratic kingmaker. He endorsed Solomon shortly after it was clear there would be a run off.
At a recent Solomon rally near a commuter train station in Jersey City, Kim said Solomon represents a "new era of politics" in New Jersey.
"Look, God knows we need it," Kim said. "It's about time, right? Well past time."
Solomon also got backing from most of his initial opponents, including County Commissioner Bill O'Dea and Mussab Ali, a TikTok famous progressive who is weighing a challenge to Rep. Rob Menendez (D-N.J.), who represents part of the city.
O'Dea, who's no newcomer to Hudson County Democratic politics as a commissioner for 28 straight years, said he and Solomon decided a year ago they'd endorse one another if one of them didn't make the runoff.
"We joked that if he and I were in the runoff, then Jersey City already won," O'Dea said in an interview.
Ali also portrayed the choice facing city voters as grave.
"The job is not finished -- we must save the city from Jim McGreevey,"
he told Solomon supporters during a rally.
McGreevey's biggest booster is Brian Stack -- a proven kingmaker who is the mayor of neighboring Union City and a state senator who used to represent parts of Jersey City. McGreevey once said Stack was the reason he got in the race in the first place.
Now Stack is fresh off an election in which his vaunted political operation turned out North Hudson County big for Democratic Gov.-Elect Mikie Sherrill -- assuaging concern about Hispanic voters' flirtation with the Republican Party after many backed Trump in 2024. But it's unclear how well that turnout machine works inside of Jersey City.
O'Dea said he doesn't see much of a path for McGreevey.
Hudson County Democratic Chair Craig Guy -- an early backer -- is staying neutral in the runoff, a sign of which way the establishment sees the race going.
During a recent debate, McGreevey even conceded that Solomon would be a great mayor "in four years," just long enough for McGreevey to serve a term.
Solomon sees democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani's win in New York as a parallel of his own race.
During a recent debate, McGreevey -- sounding much like Cuomo, who called Mamdani's campaign pledges too good to be true -- attacked Solomon for making impossible promises to voters, including $1,000 a month rent for some people, which McGreevey called "ludicrous."
"I think that should be the slogan of his campaign, 'that's not possible,'" Solomon said.
Just as Mamdani pointed out Cuomo’s unofficial support from President Donald Trump, Solomon has been making a similar case against McGreevey, pointing to his fundraising help from two men who were pardoned for criminal convictions: George Gilmore, the Ocean County GOP chair whom Trump pardoned for federal tax convictions, and Charles Kushner, the developer and now-U.S. ambassador to France who was McGreevey’s biggest fundraiser as governor, and who famously blackmailed his brother-in-law to prevent him from cooperating in a federal criminal probe involving campaign cash.
"My whole family is Democrats. We were all born Democrats and we all die Democrats. But this election is about common sense, and James's -- I would proffer -- irresponsible, socialist agenda," McGreevey said.
Neither candidate grew up in Jersey City. McGreevey was born there but grew up and built his political career in the working-class suburb of Woodbridge. Solomon grew up in toney Millburn. They moved to Jersey City in 2015 and 2013, respectively.
McGreevey paints Solomon, who worked as an adjunct professor at local colleges, as representative of the city's gleaming waterfront downtown, full of high-rises and transplants as opposed to the city's grittier interior. He's also highlighted Solomon’s family wealth.
"Jersey City is more than simply downtown,"
McGreevey, who lives in the city's McGinley Square neighborhood, said. “I don’t begrudge anyone’s wealth or assets; but simply put experience—life—has a way of shaping one’s perspective.”
McGreevey said his campaign is opposed to the "downtown crowd" and built on "bread and butter Democratic pocketbook issues" like "taxes, rents, public safety, community policing, quality schools" as opposed to "national issues." He says some of his proposals, like getting developers to build apartments that rent for $1,000 a month, show he's out of touch.
"It's virtually impossible without massive amounts of subsidization. A financial impossibility in Jersey City, simply because of the cost of land, the cost of materials, the cost of labor. The supply chain,"
McGreevey said.
But Solomon said the city's old-style machine politics did nothing to fast-rising property taxes and housing prices. If elected, McGreevey would have to "deliver profits to Charles Kushner" and other developers.
"I think it's a choice between the future and the past of New Jersey at a very core basis. We do need to put the old machine system behind us. I don't believe it's delivered for working people and the proof is in the pudding,"
he said.
But what started as a race with McGreevey as the clear favorite, who had the support of Stack as well as the leadership of the Hudson County Democratic Organization, has shifted in the wake of Solomon’s first-place finish.
Of course, running against the machine now may mean little in years to come.
"Look, it's a campaign. James is more in that anti-establishment lane but a lot of the people around him are people who have been part of my campaign or team,"
Fulop said. "People say a lot of things in a campaign."
Solomon's career trajectory echoes that of the city's outgoing mayor, Steve Fulop, who represented the same ward and was also a fierce critic of the Democratic establishment -- until he became mayor 2013 and suddenly found himself as one of the most influential figures in that establishment.
Fulop has had a strained relationship with both candidates, helping bring McGreevey in to run the Jersey City Employment and Training Program in 2013 and then helping oust him six years later. Just last month, Fulop criticized Solomon’s campaign as “disengenuous” on corruption and said McGreevey’s circle “has a feeling of entitlement.”
“I guess [Solomon] is following my playbook. That’s fine. It worked. I’ve been there three terms,”
Fulop said. “I think there’s a difference between governing and campaigning,and people realized that when they get into office.”