James Solomon has been elected the next mayor of Jersey City.

The former teacher and eight-year Democratic city councilmember beat out former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey in a runoff election Tuesday night. The Associated Press called the race for Solomon only 40 minutes after polls closed and with only 20 percent of the votes counted.

Like many electoral contests around the state and country, the race to become the next mayor of New Jersey’s second-biggest city focused on affordability issues. In the lead-up to Tuesday, Solomon and McGreevey traded barbs over each other’s approaches to rising property taxes, rising rents and other cost-of-living concerns.

During his campaign, Solomon put forth a housing plan that he argued would favor working class and lower- and middle-income famil

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