Jersey City runoff tests Democratic machine politics vs. rebel progressives
JERSEY CITY, New Jersey — A disgraced former governor is trying to claw his way back to power — only to be blocked by a younger progressive with momentum.
No, it’s not Andrew Cuomo’s failed New York City comeback bid. It’s happening across the Hudson River in Jersey City, where former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey is hitting the same kind of progressive political wall as he tries to become mayor of the state’s second-largest city.
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.
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/30/jersey-city-runoff-tests-democratic-machine-politics-vs-rebel-progressives-00668650