July 26, 2024
Hudson County Commissioner Bill O’Dea (D-2), a declared candidate for Jersey City mayor, unveiled Councilman-at-Large Daniel Rivera as his second running mate earlier this morning.
“The reason that we’re here today at the [Roberto Clemente] little league field is that we’re gonna introduce, in a little while, [someone] who has made a household name for himself as being a president, a coach, and a sponsor of this league since, God knows, 30 years at least,” said Hudson County Clerk E. Junior Maldonado, also O’Dea’s co-campaign manager.
“Two reasons we’re here: He’s gonna make a pitch to the citizens of Jersey City on getting re-elected the councilman for Jersey City again, and because it’s a team, we’re gonna hit it out of the ball park!” he said to cheers and applause.
Rivera is a currently serving in his third term, elected as part of Mayor Steven Fulop’s ticket in 2013, 2017, and 2021.
With Fulop now running for governor, the veteran councilman found his new home on Team O’Dea, as opposed to being on the slates of former Gov. Jim McGreevey, Council President Joyce Watterman, and ex-Board of Education President Mussab Ali.
HCV first reported that Rivera would be a part of O’Dea’s slate, with Maldonado also mentioning that Anti-Violence Coalition of Hudson County Executive Director Pamela Johnson will be formally announced as their Ward A council candidate soon.
During his remarks on the third base line, the longest serving Hudson County commissioner committed to upgrading all of our fields, specifically “making every park look like Lincoln Park,” bringing back free summer camps, as well as bringing back little leagues and soccer programs if elected mayor.
“These aren’t easy things to do. These things will involve tough decisions, these things will involve partnerships, one of the great partners on the city council to get things done is Danny Rivera,” O’Dea added.
He also committed to getting rid of the Department of Public Safety and going back to when the police and fire departments acting autonomously.
“Public safety is critical: our police services and our fire services. Something our entire team is committed to is bringing back the police department and the fire department. We don’t want choices to be made for one agency or another agency by a single director,” O’Dea added.
“Each department has it’s own issues, each department has its own challenges, they have their own capital needs. So each should be able to have at its helm a director that can put those plans together to make sure they have the man power and woman power they need is there.”
Rivera, who has made it a point to hone in on increasing recreation programs and promoting public safety during his tenure on the city’s premiere elected governing body, thanked Fulop for, convincing him to run on his team in 2012.
He also explained why he was looking forward to seek office alongside O’Dea.
“I know that as mayor, Bill O’Dea will prioritize the issues that I spoke about: leadership starts at the top. Jersey City needs a leader that sees their struggle and actually gives a damn enough to do something about it,” the councilman exclaimed.
“This is who I am, this is who we are, this is what we’ll get done once we’re elected. Looking ahead to the future, I’m looking confident that under Bill O’Dea’s leadership, as mayor in 2026, we will effectively address the challenges of our city …”
In an interview, Rivera elaborated on why he decided to throw his hat in the ring with O’Dea.
“I dissected my decision, I spoke to my family about it, and at the end of the day, I didn’t make this decision on my own, my wife helped me out, my children helped me out, and I thought that Jersey City would be in such great hands with Bill O’Dea, as someone who has been born and bred here, he lives it, he feels the heartbeat of the city,” he began.
“And that’s what we need for Jersey City: to feel the heartbeat of the city and can really get engaged with the communities like he has been doing for all these years.”
Lifelong educator Kristen Zadroga-Hart was named as O’Dea’s first running mate at-large last month.
The non-partisan Jersey City municipal elections, where the mayoralty and the all nine council seats are up for grabs, is on November 4th, 2025.
