Mayor of Jersey City, New Jersey


The Mayor of the City of Jersey City is the head of the executive branch of the government of Jersey City, New Jersey, United States. The mayor has the duty to enforce the municipal charter and ordinances; prepare the annual budget; appoint deputy mayors, department heads, and aides; and approve or veto ordinances passed by the City Council. The mayor is popularly elected in a nonpartisan general election. The office is held for a four-year term without term limits, although the current term is a four-and-a-half-year term, due to a change in election dates.
Forty-four individuals have held the office of mayor since the City of Jersey City was chartered on February 22, 1838. Dudley S. Gregory was the inaugural mayor of the city, and served on three separate occasions for a total of five years. The current mayor is Steven Fulop. He defeated former mayor Jerramiah Healy in the May 2013 election and assumed office on July 1, 2013.
Due to a change in election law approved by Jersey City voters at the end of 2016, mayoral elections now take place in November instead of May. Although the mayorship has historically been a four-year term in Jersey City, and law prescribes the mayorship as being a four-year term in the future, due to the calendar change in elections, one mayorship was a four-and-a-half-year term, beginning July 2013 and ending at the end of 2017.

Duties and powers

The City of Jersey City is organized as a mayor–council form of government under the Optional Municipal Charter Law. This provides for a citywide elected mayor serving in an executive role, as well as a city council serving in a legislative role. All of these offices are selected in a nonpartisan municipal election and all terms are four years. Under state law, the mayor has the duty to enforce the charter and ordinances of the city, and all applicable state laws; report annually to the council and the public on the state of the city; supervise and control all departments of the government; prepare and submit to the council annual operating and capital budgets; supervise all city property, institutions and agencies; sign all contracts and bonds requiring the approval of the city; negotiate all contracts; and serve as a member, either voting or ex-officio, of all appointive bodies.
The mayor has the power to appoint departments heads with the approval of the City Council; to remove department heads subject to a two-thirds disapproval by the City Council; approve or veto ordinances subject to an override vote of two-thirds of the council; and appoint deputy mayors. The mayor is permitted to attend and participate in meetings of the City Council, without a vote, except in the case of a tie on the question to fill a council vacancy.

Elections

Under the original 1838 charter, mayors were elected citywide for a term of one year. In 1868 the State Legislature extended the term of office to two years. In 1892, the Legislature again changed the term of office, extending it to five years. The city adopted a commission form of government under the Walsh Act in 1913. This form provided for a five-member commission with both executive and legislative powers elected for four years. The Commissioners elected one of their number as mayor. Under this system, the mayor's only specific power was to appoint the school board. Otherwise, he was first among equals, with no powers over and above his fellow commissioners. Jersey City adopted its current form of government on May 7, 1961.
Under the non-partisan form of municipal government, elections for mayor are held every four years on the second Tuesday in May. If no candidate receives a majority of votes, a runoff election is held on the fourth Tuesday following the general election. The term of office commences on July 1. The next Jersey City mayoral election is scheduled to be held in 2017.

Succession

In the event of an absence, disability, or other cause preventing the mayor from performing his duties, the mayor may designate the business administrator or any other department head as acting mayor for up to 60 days. In the event of a vacancy in the office, the President of the City Council becomes acting mayor, and the council has 30 days to name an interim mayor. If no interim mayor is named, the Council President continues as acting mayor until a successor is elected, or the council reorganizes and selects a new President. Prior to 1971, there was no automatic succession law. The office was left vacant for 47 days in 1963 when the City Council failed to reach a decision on appointing an interim mayor.

Mayors

#MayorTerm startTerm endNotes Party
1WhigThis was his first term. Dudley Sanford Gregory was the first mayor of Jersey City. Originally a Whig, Gregory switched to the Republican party in the 1850s.
2UnknownNo source has been found to verify a party affiliation.
3WhigThis was his second term.
4UnknownNo source has been found to verify a party affiliation.
5Democratic
6Whig
7Whig
8Whig
9Whig
10Democratic
11RepublicanThis was his third term.
12Democratic
13Democratic
14Democratic
15Republican
16DemocraticIn 1868, the New Jersey State Legislature passed an act changing the term of office from one to two years. Having been elected a few days before that act was passed, O'Neill refused to serve longer than the term to which he was elected and resigned after one year. Clarke was appointed interim mayor by the City Council.
17DemocraticClarke was appointed interim mayor by the City Council when O'Neill refused to extend his term under the new terms of office.
18Democratic
19Democratic
20Republican
21Democratic
22DemocraticTaussig was the first Jewish Mayor of Jersey City. His rock candy company, Taussig & Hammerschlag, went out of business during his term. In September, Taussig and his partner Moritz Hammerschlag were arrested and charged with fraud. The Havemeyer Sugar Refining Company brought a lawsuit against them claiming they were induced to making a loan based on false financial statements made to Bradstreet's Mercantile Agency by Taussig in April 1883. Taussig and Hammerschlag lost the suit in December 1884.
23Republican
24Democratic
25Republican
26Democratic
27Republican
28Democratic
29Republican
30DemocraticHague is the longest-serving mayor of Jersey City. He served for. He retired during his eighth term and asked the City Council to appoint Frank H. Eggers, his nephew.
31DemocraticHe was the nephew of Frank Hague.
32DemocraticKenny resigned shortly after winning re-election, citing poor health.
33Democratic
34DemocraticWitkowski was born in Jersey City, the son of Blanche and Joseph Witkowski, who were Polish immigrants. He was elected police commissioner in 1949, as part of the independent Freedom ticket that led to the election of John V. Kenny as mayor. Witkowski ran and lost in 1953 in his first bid for mayor, and won his single term in office in 1957.
35DemocraticGangemi resigned from office when it was determined that he was not a United States citizen and was ineligible to serve. Following his resignation, Jersey City was without a mayor for 47 days while the city council failed to reach a consensus on a successor.
36DemocraticWhelan was removed from office after being convicted of conspiracy and extortion.
37DemocraticKrieger was appointed interim mayor by the City Council after Whelan was removed from office. He was the second Jewish Mayor of Jersey City.
38DemocraticWhen elected in 1971, at age 30, Jordan became the youngest Mayor of Jersey City.
39DemocraticSmith resigned from office to seek the nomination for governor, finishing sixth in the gubernatorial Democratic primary.
40DemocraticWhen elected in 1981, at age 31, McCann was the second-youngest Mayor of Jersey City.
41DemocraticCucci served on the City Council from 1977 to 1981, and was a member of the Jersey City Board of Education from 2000 until 2009.
42DemocraticMcCann was removed from office during his second term after being convicted of bank fraud.
43DemocraticAs City Council President, Roman became acting mayor, succeeding McCann after his removal from office. She was also the first female mayor of Jersey City.
44DemocraticActing mayor. He held the office as a result of being President of the City Council at the time of a vacancy.
45RepublicanSchundler was the first Republican elected as Mayor of Jersey City since Fagan was elected in 1913.
46DemocraticCunningham was the first African American Mayor of Jersey City. He died in office of a heart attack on May 25, 2004.
47DemocraticActing mayor. He held the office as a result of being President of the City Council at the time of a vacancy.
48DemocraticHealy entered public service as an assistant prosecutor for the Hudson County, New Jersey Prosecutor's Office in 1977. From 1981 to 1991, he maintained a private law practice in Jersey City. He was appointed Chief Judge in the Jersey City Municipal Court in 1991, and was reappointed in 1995.
49IncumbentDemocraticFulop in the current mayor and the third Jewish mayor of Jersey City.

Higher offices held

The following is a list of higher public offices held by mayors, before or after their mayoral term.
MayorMayoral termOther offices heldReferences
1838–1840, 1841–1842, 1858–1860U.S. House of Representatives
1857–1858New Jersey State Senator
1864–1867, 1886–1892U.S. House of Representatives
1892–1897New Jersey General Assemblyman
2001–2004New Jersey State Senator
2004New Jersey State Senator
New Jersey General Assemblyman