Tonight, we're taking a deeper look at the increasingly crowded race for the next mayor of Jersey City.

The election is still more than a year away, but the latest candidate to toss their hat in the ring is shaking up the contest.

Councilman James Solomon formally kicked off his campaign bid last week, promising to fight corruption and make Jersey City the best version of itself.

But how will he do it while differentiating himself from the rest of the pack?

Senior political correspondent David Cruz takes a look.

Jersey City Councilman James Solomon is the most recent entrant into the race for mayor in the state's second largest and arguably its most dynamic city.

A young, earnest white guy new to the city who's benefited from the demographic shift downtown to build a potent political base.

Sounds like someone you know.

I'm not Steve Fulop, Right.

I don't take donations from Jersey City real estate developers.

I haven't done it since 2017.

And that's because we deserve folks in office who are independent from their influence, who make development work for the people of this city.

And to me, the dream job is to be mayor.

Right.

To be mayor is like you can't ask for a better job because you get to serve the community that you love every single day.

Go home to your family every single night.

Couldn't ask for something better.

A resident of the city for just over a decade, the 40 year old father of three grew up in Millburn and started his political career in 2017, succeeding Steve Fulop and defeating his handpicked candidate for the city council.

He says he's a full time councilman who was inspired to run after he survived the cancer diagnosis, in large part due to the support of his community.

The best part of Jersey City is are its people right?

This is an extraordinarily diverse set of folks who are down to earth.

And, you know, I don't know if you guys can say, sure, I know where I could afford it, but like, there's no polls.

The people are real and the city is real.

That is the best part of it.

And they deserve a government that matches how good they are.

And that's happening under Fulop says Solomon, who gives the mayor credit for advancing a project like Bayfront that would provide thousands of new affordable housing units and for fighting the county political organization.

But he disagrees on the controversial Pompidou Museum project that would cost taxpayers millions of dollars.

He also criticizes Fulop for tolerating a culture of corruption.

The worst part of it's the corruption, right?

You're on your you're paying your property taxes.

You pay a corruption tax.

You pay more of your hard earned money every single day to fund a political system that does not care about you.

Right?

You pay for a tax break to a developer.

800 units of luxury housing without a single affordable unit.

Right.

That is the problem, right?

You pay for a government that doesn't pick up your trash, that doesn't fill potholes.

That needs to change.

Eleana Little, a former independent candidate for county executive, supports Solomon.

She may even decide to run for city council herself.

She's turned off by the former governor in the race and says voters should be wary of Jim McGreevey, who resigned from office amid scandal two decades ago.

The reason he was forced to resign was not his extramarital affair.

It was the corruption and the nepotism which we see all too much of here in Hudson County.

So I hope that, you know, voters remember that and, you know, decide that we don't want to see more corruption and nepotism and that we want to chart a new path.

Solomon has fired his first political salvo at McGreevey for his cozy relationship with politicos like South Jersey Republican George Gilmore, who was convicted of tax evasion and fraud but was pardoned by Donald Trump in 2021.

Gilmore is hosting a fundraiser for McGreevey tonight.

I think it was pretty clear that this is a guy that's not playing for second place.

I mean, clearly, he was already going after McGreevey.

He was already going after that's a county Democratic organization.

And, you know, he was basically painting his successes and his independents as reasons why, you know, he's ready to lead the city.

Solomon enters a field that includes McGreevey and county Commissioner Bill O'Dea.

They're the best financed and most well known candidates in an election that is still a year away, but already becoming the center of attention in a city that will have a new mayor for the first time in more than a decade.

I'm David Cruz.

NJ Spotlight News.