JERSEY CITY - From the very start, there was a surreal quality to this week's debate among five candidates running for mayor.

The host of the forum was Bret Schundler, a former mayor.

But of more significance, Schundler was the 2001 Republican candidate for governor who lost - quite overwhelmingly - to Jim McGreevey. That's the same McGreevey who is now running for mayor.
So it did seem a bit odd when Schundler's first question to the candidates was to tell the public something about themselves.

In all, there are seven candidates for mayor, but two of them, Joyce Watterman and Kalki Jayne-Rose, did not attend the forum.

The five who did were McGreevey, Bill O'Dea, James Solomon, Mussab Ali and Christina Freeman.

Local observers see the top three candidates as McGreevey, Solomon and O'Dea. Jersey City has a runoff system, meaning that unless one candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote, the top two will go head-to-head in another election in early December. A runoff seems likely with seven candidates in the race, so the real goal is to finish in the top two positions.

McGreevey is clearly the "name figure" in the race, so he was an obvious target.

O'Dea, a longtime Hudson County freeholder/commissioner, said that as governor, McGreevey "unconstitutionally" bonded for $2.7 billion to cover operating costs.

Solomon, a city councilman, said that as mayor of Woodbridge - the job he had before becoming governor - McGreevey failed to build affordable homes in the township.

McGreevey defended his tenure in Woodbridge, saying that longtime residents will remember him as attentive, responsive and someone who made "Woodbridge work."

It was Ali, a former president of the city board of education, who launched the most pointed attack on McGreevey.

He said experience is indeed an issue, but that, "I have never had the experience of having to resign in disgrace."
McGreevey, who resigned the governorship amid scandal three years into his only term, said:
"I clearly made mistakes in my life. But I would argue those mistakes have made me wiser and better."

In going after McGreevey, Solomon brought up what he said was the former governor's support from landlords and corporate interests. He also criticized McGreevey for attending a 2024 fundraiser co-hosted by George Gilmore, the chair of the Ocean County Republican Party, and a man convicted of tax evasion, He was ultimately pardoned by President Donald Trump.

McGreevey did not talk about the Gilmore fundraiser.

But he sought to steer the conversation back to the state's second largest city.

That, he said, is what the campaign is about. And he said he is willing to work with anyone who can help the city.

McGreevey prides himself on being a hands-on politician. He spoke about walking to - and around - all areas of the city more than once and pledged to hold monthly town hall meetings.

O'Dea, near the end of the debate, said he's been doing precisely that for 40 years. He was a city councilman before becoming a county commissioner.

A lot of what McGreevey says is about "second chances," not only for himself, but for others. He does work helping former inmates re-enter society.

Ali was not all that impressed, saying:

"What about people like us that never got our first chance?"