After an absurdly long election cycle, Hoboken and Jersey City voters finally elected their next mayor, as well as several council representatives, on Tuesday: Here’s the biggest winners and losers from the runoff races.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
James Solomon
If you’ve been reading these columns over the past few years, you’ll know Solomon has been a winner fairly regularly and was always the most likely bet to defeat former Gov. Jim McGreevey.
That said, I wasn’t expecting a 68-32 win Solomon victory where McGreevey didn’t win a single council seat. As a matter of fact, all of those races were blowouts too. Solomon can give the HCDO a lot of headaches, if not worse, in 2026 and beyond if he is so inclined.
Emily Jabbour
Most political insiders were expecting a dog fight that came down to the wire between the councilwoman at-large and 3rd Ward Councilman Mike Russo. While it wasn’t a blowout like the race down the street, Jabbour won by a comfortable margin of about 54-46.
She bludgeoned her opponent repeatedly over past mishaps like the 2009 Solomon Dwek FBI surveillance tape, and while some folks thought it was overkill, it was undeniably effective. She also seemed to catch momentum late and didn’t let the moment pass her by.
Bill O’Dea
While the veteran Hudson County commissioner won’t be the next Jersey City mayor, he parlayed his third place finish into building a strong relationship with the mayor-elect, endorsing him in the runoff and earning him a co-chair spot on his transition team.
He is going to be heavily favored in his re-election bid next year, and depending on the makeup of the board when the smoke settles, he could be serious candidate for county executive in 2027.
Steve Firestone
It’s not easy for Republicans to win any elected seats in Hudson County, but Professor Steve as his friends and students call him, did just that on a progressive ticket headed by Emily Jabbour.
He was wise to distance himself from the MAGA movement whenever possible. The zoning board chairman turned councilman at-large elect is the first card carrying member of the GOP to get elected to the Hoboken council since the late Jen Giattino in 2011.
LOSERS
Jim McGreevey
A $5 million fundraising apparatus wasn’t enough to overcome a campaign run like the year was still pre-Y2K. Clumsy social media and long, wordy mailers aren’t a recipe for success in 2025 and made his second place finish last month unsurprising.
The 68-year old former governor, state assemblyman, state senator, and Woodbridge mayor was clearly rusty after a two-decade electoral layoff and no one was ever able to bring him up to speed. This also clearly hurt his runoff slate mates who all lost handily.
Mike Russo
The 22-year Mile Square City councilman built a broad coalition heading into the runoff against colleague Emily Jabbour, which looked good on paper alongside a big campaign war chest.
However, his “relentlessly positive” message proved to be uninspiring to the majority of December 2nd runoff voters in the face of his electoral adversary hammering him as a corrupt figure that would bring Hoboken back to the dark days of the past.
David Cruz
McGreevey’s downright confusing campaign at times could be attributed to Jersey City Heights consultant David Cruz, who had never done much campaign work prior to this outside of running a GOTV Election Day operation as part of a broader coalition.
Why McGreevey felt he was worth $7,000 a month remains a gigantic mystery, but it is abundantly clear Cruz was not the right man for the job and he ended being a big contributor to the progressive movement Tuesday night, albeit not on purpose.
Anyone Who Hates Far Left Politicians
Not only did the progressive movement in South Hudson getting a massive boost with Tuesday’s victories, but we also saw two Democratic Socialists of America members in Joel Brooks (Ward B) and Jake Ephros (Ward D) get elected to the Jersey City Council.
While no one is confusing Ward C Councilman-elect Tom Zuppa, for example, for a DSA member, the days where moderate (Catherine Healy) to conservative leaning (Ward C Councilman Rich Boggiano) local Democratic candidates are over for now.
Paul Presinzano has to be listed as a loser.
He endorsed 2 mayoral candidates, both lost
He endorsed 6 city council candidates…they all lost.
Emily Jabbour received just under 54% with a win some thought was not coming but those mailers hammering the FBI undercover videos with Solomon Dwek did the job. They worked great and Russo must regret mouthing off back in the day which led to its uncommon, untimely release. He can blame the Jersey Sting authors and that anti-corruption Horse.
Russo skated in the first round. He got tapped lightly by Councilwoman Fisher but it’s clear a little needed bludgeoning by the Jabbour campaign derailed him. It overwhelmed a sizable development underwriting effort too. What did all that development backing expect for those hundreds of thousands of dollars? Will Jabbour be welcoming them in the coming days? She’s not stopping with taking in monies from that automated parking ticket vendor, thats for sure.
David Cruz, a big loser? Who knew. There is a little justice in the world. David Axelrod he’s not. Good times.
please take a basic english composition class. this is unintelligible.
“He got tapped lightly by Councilwoman Fisher but it’s clear a little needed bludgeoning by the Jabbour campaign derailed him.”
Another big loser was the psycho dude who calls himself a horse. He wants so badly to be relevant. Now even Fisher – the last person in Hoboken with the bad judgment to take him seriously – has tossed him aside.
You concocted that entire movie in your little head. Have you asked the psychiatrist to review your anti-depressants and mood stabilizers? Then you may have a shot at talking to people and touching grass in the real world.
Would Tiffanie Fisher qualify for the list of losers? I mean, she ran for mayor and lost by a substantial margin. Then, after trashing him less than two weeks earlier in a letter to HCV, jumped on the Russo bandwagon with big endorsement…and he lost, handily. And she endorsed he council candidate Liz for Team Russo…and she lost too! It’s like everything Tiffanie touches turns to…you know what.