Two decades after resigning as New Jersey’s governor and stunning the political world as he declared “I am a gay American,” Jim McGreevey is back on the campaign trail, running for mayor of the state’s second-largest city.

McGreevey, a Democrat, is one of seven candidates in a nonpartisan race to replace Steven Fulop as mayor of Jersey City, just across the Hudson River from Manhattan.

He’s running, he said, because he’s concerned that the city of his birth is at a “tipping point,” with pricy downtown high-rises raising housing costs, young people struggling to find employment and what he says are underperforming schools.

“This is not a cathartic exercise,” McGreevey told The Associated Press in an interview ahead of Tuesday’s election. “I’ve done that long ago. That was done 20-plus years ago. This is to make Jersey City better. To improve services. To balance the budget. To be responsive to familial needs.”

McGreevey’s opponents include two city council members, a Hudson County commissioner, a city police officer and the former president of the city’s board of education. Fulop isn’t seeking a fourth term.

If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, a runoff election will be held Dec. 2.

Opponent: I never had to ‘resign in disgrace’

McGreevey’s resignation is etched in New Jersey political lore.

In a televised speech on Aug. 12, 2004, McGreevey said, as his wife and parents looked on, that he was quitting because he had engaged in an extramarital affair with another man. With that revelation, he became the country’s first openly gay governor.

The circumstances of McGreevey’s exit were more complicated than his merely coming out. The man McGreevey had been involved with was Golan Cipel, a former Israeli naval officer he had appointed as the state’s homeland security adviser in 2002.

Cipel, who met McGreevey in Israel and worked for his campaign as a Jewish community liaison, was not qualified for the $110,000-per-year position, in part because, as an Israeli citizen, he couldn’t obtain the necessary U.S. security clearances.

Cipel quit a few months into his tenure and threatened to sue McGreevey for sexual harassment, hastening the governor’s resignation. Cipel has denied that any affair occurred, saying he was the victim of McGreevey’s “repeated sexual advances.”

Some of McGreevey’s opponents in the mayoral race have argued that his conduct as governor should disqualify him with voters. One rival, city council member James Solomon, argued that McGreevey’s run is an extension of corruption that he claimed infected his time as governor.

Another rival, former school board president Mussab Ali, said at a recent debate: “I have never had the experience of having to resign in disgrace.”

“My opponents may care about what happened 20 years ago,” McGreevey said. “Folks in Jersey City are worried about their rent today, worried about the children’s individual education plan today. They’re concerned about the fact that the street is dirty or that there’s a sewer break on Montgomery (Street).”