Lewis Spears Is Officially Challenging Fulop For Mayor

JERSEY CITY, NJ — Jersey City's November election will have a contested mayoral race, as Lewis Spears becomes a certified mayoral candidate.

This weekend, Spears announced he had become the fourth—and the youngest—African American man in 200 years, to be certified to run as mayor in a general election in Jersey City. Spears, who will continue to submit nominating petitions till the deadline today, had enough petitions to certify on Saturday.

Jersey City's election will be Nov. 2.

“I decided to run because I wanted to give all of the people of Jersey City another option—different ideas for a shared vision for our great city. I want every child in this city to see that someone who was born and grew up here can indeed lead it. The response has been overwhelming so far, and I remain grateful for every opportunity Jersey City has afforded me, including this opportunity to run for leadership.”

Last week, Mayor Steven Fulop submitted his 6,000 petitions of nomination to the city clerk's office to run for a third term. Fulop, a Democrat, was first elected in 2013 and won a second term in 2017, according to Ballotpedia.org. He kicked off his 2021 re-election campaign in February 2020.

"Jersey City residents recognize the progress our community has made over the past eight years and support our vision of continuing the work to make it the best mid-size city in America," Fulop said in a Wednesday statement.