James Solomon is elected Jersey City mayor, turning away ex-NJ Gov. Jim McGreevey’s comeback bid

JERSEY CITY, N.J. (AP) — James Solomon was elected mayor of Jersey City on Tuesday, thwarting former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey’s bid for a political comeback more than two decades after a scandalous resignation.

Addressing supporters who had gathered to watch returns and cheer him on, Solomon said: “Now the mission is clear, and the work begins tonight. And the work we have to do is making Jersey City affordable. So I say tonight, an affordable Jersey City starts now.”

Solomon, a city council member since 2017, defeated McGreevey in a runoff after they finished first and second in an initial round of voting Nov. 4. with seven candidates on the ballot. The city’s election is nonpartisan, but both men are Democrats.

At a gathering less than a mile away, McGreevey thanked supporters and congratulated Solomon on his victory.

“There’s nothing I would change in this campaign,” McGreevey said, adding that he’d walked every block in the small city and visited every one of its churches, mosques and temples while getting to know its people. “Thank you for your trust. Thank you for your welcome. And thank you for your hospitality.”

Solomon, 41, said he ran for mayor to make New Jersey’s 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.

His victory comes a month after New York City’s mayor-elect, democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, won on an affordability platform over another ex-governor looking to make a comeback, Andrew Cuomo.

The Jersey City race gained national attention because of McGreevey’s candidacy.

It was the first time he was running for public office since resigning as governor in 2004 — a stunning announcement remembered mostly for the spectacle of him declaring: “I am a gay American.”

McGreevey’s 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’s homeland security adviser in 2002 despite Cipel’s lack of qualifications and inability to obtain necessary security clearances.

In his victory remarks, Solomon thanked McGreevey for his candidacy, but on the campaign trail he’d said that the former governor represented the “politics of the past.”

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

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’s in an area sometimes referred to as the Sixth Borough.

The current mayor, Steven Fulop, made an unsuccessful bid for governor and declined to seek a fourth term.

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 that tenants have a right to legal counsel.

Solomon and McGreevey both vowed to stand up to President Donald Trump, whose administration is suing to end Jersey City’s so-called sanctuary city protections for immigrants.

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 has three daughters.

In 2015, about a month after his wedding, he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Now in full remission, he told The AP in an interview that 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 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.

He said he’ll appoint a deputy mayor for education to coordinate between the city and the school district, which is independent of the municipal government.

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.

Even McGreevey got in on the act, saying at a recent debate: “James Solomon is an incredibly likable young guy. And in four years, he’ll be a great mayor.”

On Tuesday, voters declared that Solomon’s time is now.

Jersey City Mayor-elect James Solomon speaks during a watch party after winning the mayoral election, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, in Jersey City, N.J. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Jersey City Mayor-elect James Solomon speaks to his supporters after winning the mayoral election during a watch party, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, in Jersey City, N.J. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Jersey City Mayor-elect James Solomon gestures during his speech at a watch party, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, in Jersey City, N.J. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Jersey City Mayor-elect James Solomon celebrates after winning the mayoral election during a watch party, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, in Jersey City, N.J. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Jersey City Mayor-elect James Solomon gestures during his speech at a watch party, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, in Jersey City, N.J. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

This combination image shows Jim McGreevey, left, in Trenton, N.J., Jan. 10, 2023, and James Solomon, Nov. 25, 2025, in Jersey City, N.J. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, Frank Franklin II, file)

President Donald Trump won't be getting his wish. ABC said Monday it has signed late-night comic Jimmy Kimmel to a one-year contract extension.

Kimmel's previous, multiyear contract had been set to expire next May, so the extension will keep him on the air until at least May 2027.

Kimmel's future looked questionable in September, when ABC suspended “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” for remarks made following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Following a public outcry, ABC lifted the suspension, and Kimmel returned to the air with much stronger ratings than he had before.

He continued his relentless joking at the president's expense, leading Trump to urge the network to “get the bum off the air” in a social media post last month. The post followed Kimmel's nearly 10-minute monologue on Trump and the Jeffrey Epstein files.

Kimmel was even on Trump's mind Sunday as the president hosted the Kennedy Center Honors in Washington.

“I've watched some of the people that host,” Trump said. “I've watched some of the people that host. Jimmy Kimmel was horrible, and some of these people, if I can't beat out Jimmy Kimmel in terms of talent, then I don't think I should be president.”

Kimmel has hosted the Oscars four times, but he's never hosted the Kennedy Center show.

Just last week, Kimmel was needling Trump on the president's approval ratings. “There are gas stations on Yelp with higher approval ratings than Trump right now,” he said.

Kimmel will be staying longer than late-night colleague Stephen Colbert at CBS. The network announced this summer it was ending Colbert's show next May for economic reasons, even though it is the top-rated network show in late-night television.

ABC has aired Kimmel's late-night show since 2003, during a time of upheaval in the industry. Like much of broadcast television, late-night ratings are down. Viewers increasingly turn to watching monologues online the day after they appear.

Most of Kimmel's recent renewals have been multiyear extensions. There was no immediate word on whose choice it was to extend his current contract by one year.

Following Kirk’s killing, Kimmel was criticized for saying that “the MAGA gang” was “desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.” The Nexstar and Sinclair television ownership groups said it would take Kimmel off the air, leading to ABC's suspension.

When he returned to the air, Kimmel did not apologize for his remarks, but he said he did not intend to blame any specific group for Kirk's assassination. He said “it was never my intention to make the light of the murder of a young man.”

David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social.

Molly McNearney, left, and Jimmy Kimmel arrive at The Hollywood Reporter's Women in Entertainment Gala on Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2024, at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

Jimmy Kimmel, left, and Molly McNearney pose at The Hollywood Reporter's Women in Entertainment Gala on Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2024, at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)