Hudson County Commissioner Bill O’Dea is expected to announce his bid for mayor of Jersey City on November 18, setting up a contest between a longtime local elected official and a former Governor of New Jersey.
James E. McGreevey, a former state senator, assemblyman, and Woodbridge mayor who served as governor from 2002 to 2004, plans to announce his mayoral bid on November 9. McGreevey was born in Jersey City and returned there about ten years ago.
The non-partisan race for mayor will be held in November 2025. The three-term incumbent, Steve Fulop, announced in January that he would not seek re-election; instead, Fulop is running for governor.
Fulop has not taken sides in the mayoral race. He and O’Dea are longtime allies, and his relationship with McGreevey, once a member of Fulop’s administration, has soured.
O’Dea was elected to the Jersey City Council in 1985 and served two terms. After Freeholder Hank Gallo died suddenly in 1997, O’Dea ran for the District 2 seat. In a special election convention, Hudson County Executive Robert Janiszewski and Freeholder William Braker, the Jersey City Democratic municipal chairman, backed Robert Gallo, the late freeholder’s brother; O’Dea won by one vote, 41-40 in a race that went to court after Gallo claimed to have a single absentee ballot that would have brought the race to a tie. A judge dismissed that claim.
O’Dea appears to have taken a swipe at Hudson County Democratic mayors backing McGreevey in a social media post promoting his announcement.
“Our city. Our choice,” he said.
O’Dea is unopposed for re-election to another three-year term as county commissioner on Tuesday.