Jimmy Davis was born and raised in Bayonne. He graduated from Saint Andrews Grammar School and Bayonne High School.  After graduating high school, he attended St. John’s University and worked in New York City’s financial district. In 1986, however, he decided to serve his community as a Bayonne police officer. Jimmy had a distinguished 28 year career in law-enforcement with the Bayonne Police Department. His assignments included working in the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Homicide Division, leading a Special Crimes Unit, and working alongside prosecutors from the FBI, the US Treasury Department, the US Department of Justice and several counties in New Jersey. He and his wife, Jamie, have raised three sons.

Jimmy has a lifelong commitment to civic and social service, not the least of which includes coaching the Bayonne Police Department’s hockey team, raising money for slain police officers, and fundraising for the support of people with autism. He retired from the Bayonne Police Department in 2014 with the rank of Captain.

Jimmy Davis was first elected as Mayor of the city of Bayonne in 2014, being the first Mayor in Bayonne’s history to be elected with all five of the council candidates on his ticket. This historic “first” was repeated in 2018 and 2022.

His “All Community” approach has resulted in the most diverse and qualified slate of political candidates and municipal workers in Bayonne’s history. Jimmy endorsed and ran with Bayonne’s first African-American Councilman and our first African-American State Assemblyman. He has also appointed more women and minorities to key municipal positions than any other mayor in Bayonne’s history. Jimmy also supported changing the Bayonne Board of Education from an appointed body to an elected one.

As Mayor, Jimmy has eliminated the municipality’s crippling structural deficit and fostered economic development throughout the city on an unprecedented level. Under his leadership, Bayonne has undergone an historic social and economic renaissance and is well positioned for future growth and prosperity.