The Working Families Party is claiming a governing majority on the Jersey City Council in New Jersey for the first time, recently announcing that its endorsed candidates won every race the party contested in the city’s runoff elections held earlier in December.
In a December 4 email sent after New Jersey’s runoff elections, the party said it “swept the entire council,” including the election of James Solomon as the next mayor of Jersey City. County results show that Solomon defeated Jim McGreevey with 24,675 votes, or 68.2% of the total. The mayoral position is nonpartisan on the ballot. Both were initially part of a seven-candidate field in November where no single contender earned more than 30 percent.
“This comes just weeks after another huge victory for our movement, Zohran Mamdani’s win in New York City,” the statement read, referencing one of the party’s higher-profile endorsements. “Together, these victories send a clear message that our movement is not isolated. It’s building. It’s spreading. And it’s winning.”
The party said the runoff results show that a progressive governing majority is achievable and reflect the impact of openly running on bold messaging. It also pointed to the effectiveness of grassroots organizing against high-spending opponents. “We didn’t trim our sails,” it continued. “We talked about housing, public safety, immigrant justice, worker power — and voters responded.”
The party added that Solomon will serve alongside Denis Ridley, Tom Zuppa, Joel Brooks, Jake Ephros, Eleana Little, and Frank Gilmore on the Jersey City Council, calling each candidate a “WFP champion.” Similar to the mayoral race, the council elections are also nonpartisan. This gives Working Families Party-endorsed candidates control of six of the council’s nine seats, with the remaining three elected in a multi-candidate at-large race where the party did not issue endorsements.
Like Solomon in the mayoral race, Ridley, Zuppa, Brooks, and Ephros won their ward seats in this month’s runoffs. Little and Gilmore were elected outright during the first round of voting in November. Notably, several of the winning candidates named by the party also received endorsements from the national Democratic Socialists of America.
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