The newest 2025 mayoral candidate for Jersey City will need to play catch-up.
Former school board president Mussab Ali announced Tuesday afternoon he’s running for the city’s top office and kicked off his effort to raise the kind of cash that two other candidates, Bill O’Dea and Jim McGreevey, have already amassed.
O’Dea, the eight-term Hudson County Board of Commissioners member, and McGreevey, the former governor, both touted their war chests Tuesday — O’Dea announcing he raised $230,000 in the last quarter to add to the $406,700 already banked in his commissioners account; and McGreevey telling NJ Globe that he took in $500,000 last quarter and has $1.4 million to spend in the 2025 race.
“I’m ecstatic to see our campaign picking up this kind of traction and building serious momentum as we get closer to next year’s election for mayor,” O’Dea said. “The people of Jersey City want a leader who will always stand up for them, not someone who takes orders from outside political bosses.”
O’Dea, the District 2 Hudson County Commissioner, raised just $59,000 in the last quarter of 2023, according to his January Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC) report. The 2024 first-quarter haul brings O’Dea’s campaign cash at more than $690,000
In his 2:38-minute video, Ali said he is running to “fight for the place that has given me so much.” The Jersey Journal reported Monday that the Harvard Law School graduate has filed the campaign paperwork to run for mayor.
“Deciding to challenge the status quo and run for mayor was no easy choice,” Ali said in a statement. “But seeing our city — the most diverse in America — struggle with issues like affordability and gentrification, and grappling with the shadows of machine politics, I knew I couldn’t stay on the sidelines.”
Ali posted the video on social media platforms, along with a link to a campaign donation website. Ali’s own campaign website includes links to the same website. Hudson County political insiders have said candidates need to raise at least $2 million to make a serious run for mayor.
McGreevey, the founder and chairman of the New Jersey Reentry Corp., could not be reached for comment.
Council President Joyce Watterman told The Jersey Journal she is running for mayor, but has yet to begin raising funds for her campaign. She only has $17,250 on hand in her city council campaign account, as of January.
District 4 Hudson County Commissioner Jerry Walker and Downtown Councilman James Solomon are expected to throw their hats in the ring in a race for Jersey City mayor.
