the race is on in Jersey City longtime County legislator Bill O'Dea day this weekend declared his candidacy to be the city's next mayor the lifelong resident made his pitch to an enthusiastic crowd filled with hundreds of supporters pledging to bring affordability and to hold developers accountable to the community O'Dea joins what is likely to become a crowed field of contenders just a week after former Governor Jim McGreevy announced his bid senior political correspondent David Cruz was there our city our our city our bill o day kicked at Old School in announcing his candidacy for mayor at the catering hall formerly known as Casino in the park back in the day like in the 80s when O'Dea was just starting if you wanted to show out you packed the casino in the park Saturday's launch with the hundreds in attendance spilling outside had a lot of that old feel this is uh a little bit of a old school feeling to this a little bit yeah take it to the streets Grassroots that's what we've always been about O'Dea's political career began in 1981 as a city councilman's Aid he served on the council himself for eight years and as a county commissioner since 1997 often with the Democratic organization backing but frequently as his own man Bill O'Dea is The Sibling of NJ Spotlight news reporter Colleen O'Dea his name has been mentioned for mayor almost every four years since former assemblyman and mayoral candidate L Manzo said the Back to the Future Vibes here were a good sign for the O'Dea campaign I like what I see here today what I see here today is The Melting Pot of Jersey City you look across this crowd and you see people from every different neighborhood every different part of the city essential essential into a campaign two campaigns that are getting out 2 years really before the election date meanwhile nine of the 12 Mayors in the county have endorsed the other guy what does that say to you and what should that say to the residents well I mean what it says to me is that I think they should worry about their own towns not worry about Jersey city and what it says to the residents is we will decide our own destiny we're not going to let folks from the outside come in and decide our that's why you got so many people here former Governor Jim McGreevy announced his run for mayor earlier this month in a small restaurant with not nearly as many supporters but noticeably more press I'm proud of the fact that Mayors have endorsed me because I've been a mayor and no disrespect to the to the commissioner But Bill's been a councilman he's been a commissioner he's been in the legislative branch of government being a mayor is very different at the end of the day you get things done or you don't with election day still almost two years away McGreevy and oday figure to do battle in the inner city where Economic Development has been slow to catch on Pam Johnson heads the antiviolence Coalition of Hudson County she supports O'Dea but she says any candidate hoping to be successful here better do more than talk so you cannot speak to an audience of people who you know other than your name never seen your face and can that you know cannot connect you to a body of work in in a particular area right that's important uh consistency you know you know establishing trust within neighborhoods there is very important um and so the messenger has to stand behind his message other candidates are likely to jump into this race downtown councilman James Solomon among them and Jersey city has a rich history of stalking horse candidates so the field could eventually be quite crowned just like the good old days in Jersey City I'm David Cruz NJ Spotlight News NJ Spotlight News