He framed his resignation as governor largely as a sacrifice to spare his state from the distraction of a sex scandal. His name became a punchline on late-night TV.
Years passed. Then political opportunity arose in the city where he was born. This time, he would run for mayor of his state’s most ethnically diverse and economically vital metropolis.
In this case, the city is not New York, although the tale is familiar there, too.
Jim McGreevey, a former governor of New Jersey, has staked his claim at political rebirth on a campaign for mayor of Jersey City. It comes two decades after he left Trenton, and just as Andrew M. Cuomo, New York’s former governor, is also running for mayor, of New York City.
Both men are Democrats, born in the same year, 1957. Both resigned in scandal. And both are competing against opponents running from the left, setting up a curious symmetry in the races to lead cities that are less than four miles apart, on opposite banks of the Hudson River.
If either candidate wins, he can thank an electorate that has grown far more inured to misdeeds by elected leaders, said Brandon Rottinghaus, a professor at the University of Houston who has studied political comebacks. “Scandals don’t hit like they used to,” he said.
As similar as the contests in Jersey City and New York might seem, there are also striking differences.
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The post Miles From New York, Another Ex-Governor Seeks a Comeback as Mayor appeared first on New York Times.
