Jersey City Mayor Fulop Plans Run to Succeed Murphy as NJ Governor

Steven Fulop, the three-term Democratic mayor of Jersey City, entered the race on Tuesday to succeed Governor Phil Murphy in 2025.

(Bloomberg) — Steven Fulop, the three-term Democratic mayor of Jersey City, entered the race on Tuesday to succeed Governor Phil Murphy in 2025.

Fulop, 46, has shepherded Jersey City’s Hudson River waterfront and downtown into a haven for financial companies and their employees. In September, the city planning board approved two residential towers near the Goldman Sachs Inc. building.

In a YouTube campaign ad announcing his candidacy, Fulop supporters talked about how the mayor left a Wall Street trading job after the Sept. 11 attacks and enlisted in the US Marines, with deployment to Iraq. As mayor of New Jersey’s second-largest city, he mandated paid sick time, pushed through a $15 minimum wage and expanded affordable housing.

Murphy, a Democrat who first took office in 2018, is barred from seeking a third term. A Fairleigh Dickinson University poll in January identified US Representative Mikie Sherill; Murphy’s wife, Tammy Murphy; and Newark Mayor Ras Baraka as potentially strong Democratic candidates.

Republican Jack Ciattarelli, whom Murphy barely defeated for a second term, is a possibility for his party’s nomination, as is talk show host Bill Spadea, the poll found.

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