James Solomon and Jim McGreevey, the remaining candidates in a hard-fought race to become Jersey City's next mayor, will clash in a runoff election on Tuesday.

The two Democrats finished first and second in November’s election. Solomon, a city councilmember, received 29.2% of the vote. McGreevey, a former New Jersey governor, got 25.1%.

Both faced a crowded field, but neither received the requisite 50%, setting up the Dec. 2 one-on-one contest.

The lack of affordable housing in Jersey City has dominated the race. And while the candidates agree on many ideas for solving the problem, their differences on the issue have become more stark as Tuesday’s runoff draws closer.

Both favor a mandatory 20% set-aside for affordable housing units in all new developments. They also agree that the municipality needs to be more discerning about handing out tax abatements to developers.

According to Zumper.com, Jersey City’s $3,290 average rent for a one-bedroom apartment is the second-highest of any city in the country, just below New York City’s average of $4,300.

Their biggest rift, however, centers on Solomon’s proposal to build thousands of affordable apartments, some with rents capped at $1,000 per month.

McGreevey called the idea “fantasy thinking” during a debate hosted by Hudson Media Group last week, adding that it would create a “devastating financial burden” to the tune of $3 billion in additional property taxes.

Solomon has refuted the $3 billion claim as private developers would be the ones financing construction and not the taxpayer. Such a system already exists in Jersey City and New York City: Developers are required to set aside a certain amount of income-restricted units in exchange for city approval, so they can then lease the rest of their units at market and luxury rates.

At the debate, Solomon said McGreevey’s argument had been “cooked up by the development industry so they can get out of a tough requirement to build actually affordable units.”

McGreevey has received hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations from a variety of donors in the real estate industry, according to reporting by the Hudson County View.

Neither McGreevey nor Solomon have said how many affordable units they want to set aside in total, making their claims difficult to measure.

They also both hope to stop tax breaks that have gone to developers but have not given specific targets on those proposals.

The two candidates have traded barbs over income-restricted housing in a whirlwind series of debates and tandem interviews in recent days.

“There's no way to achieve that. My phone bill's $250,” McGreevey said on the debate stage. “ The working-class families of Jersey City, not just downtown, will have to subsidize those rents.”

Solomon said McGreevey would rather shoot down concepts than put forth a plan for the future.

“He’s spent more time talking about me and what we can't do as opposed to a vision for the future and what we can do,” Solomon said in the debate.

Local concerns over housing affordability in Jersey City follow a statewide trend, and it was the top issue in this year’s gubernatorial race.

A Rutgers poll in May revealed that 33% of New Jerseyans said their housing is “not very” affordable, 18% said it's “not at all” affordable, and 56% said it is only getting more difficult to afford housing in New Jersey.

Polls open at 6 a.m. on Tuesday in Jersey City and stay open until 8 p.m.