Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop said he isn’t concerned about former state Senate President Steve Sweeney getting over two dozen endorsements in the 2025 governor’s race, indicating that “right now, everything is kind of moving as expected.”
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“Look, he rolled out a lot of South Jersey elected officials and that wasn’t surprising. I think Steve Sweeney and I have a good working relationship, at least we’re cordial at this point in time, I’ve seen him at a lot of events in the past year,” Fulop said in an interview after an unrelated press conference on local crime stats this morning.
“None of those endorsements are surprising and none of them are elected officials north of Atlantic County. So, when we start to see some penetration of significant elected officials in North Jersey, then we’ll have a conversation around support and endorsements statewide. Right now, everything is kind of moving as expected.”
Sweeney, who lost his state Senate seat to truck driver Ed Durr in a massive upset in 2021, remains a prominent name in New Jersey politics.
Tallies by the New Jersey Globe show that Fulop currently has 28 endorsements in his bid for governor, while Sweeney, who only announced one week ago, has 27.
Fulop, who is in his third term as mayor, has endorsements from elected officials in Atlantic, Bergen, Burlington, Essex, Hudson, Mercer, Warren and Union Counties, while Sweeney has the backing from electeds in Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cumberland, Gloucester, and Warren Counties.
Sweeney and Fulop were expected to square off in the 2017 gubernatorial primary, but both decided not to run with Phil Murphy shoring up party lines and support throughout the state.
For the moment, they are the only two gubernatorial candidates that have formally declared, with Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, as well as U.S. Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-5) and Mikie Sherrill (D-11), all potentially competing for the Democratic nomination.
On the Republican side, there are no formally declared candidates yet, though the 2021 nominee Jack Ciattarelli, has been clear that he plans on running again.
