JERSEY CITY -- In the final week of campaigning in the Dec. 5 Downtown council race, a group with ties to a politically powerful labor union is starting to spend big money in support of Rebecca Symes.

Stronger Foundations Inc., which has spent hundreds of thousands this year to back pols like Sen. President Stephen Sweeney and Hoboken Mayor-elect Ravi Bhalla, paid for a 30-second spot on behalf of Symes that started circulating on Facebook this week and will also air on television.

The spot calls Symes "an attorney and a strong woman who will stand up to the Trump agenda."

While not unprecedented for an independent group to attempt to influence a local race -- one spent more than $250,000 to support Mayor Steve Fulop in 2013 -- this is the only one that has spent money in this year's municipal contest.

Stronger Foundations is not required to list its donors. The group declined to say how much it spent on making the ad and buying air time. Its most recent campaign finance filing has not been made public yet.

Symes, 36, came in first place out of five Ward E council hopefuls on Election Day, but landed in a runoff because she failed to win more than 50 percent of the vote. Her opponent is the second-place finisher, James Solomon, 33, who teaches about politics and government at two local colleges.

The Ward E race has been an expensive one. The two candidates' most recent filings show Symes raised about $92,000 and spent $58,000 on the first round of campaigning, while Solomon raised $125,000 and spent $116,000. Solomon's fundraising haul includes a personal $25,000 loan.

Solomon has made reform of the city's real-estate development process a central promise of his campaign, and he has highlighted Symes' prior work as general counsel for real-estate investment firm Dixon Advisory to cast her as the candidate who would be beholden to big-money donors tied to that industry.

Stronger Foundations' ad, he told The Jersey Journal today, shows "one candidate is independent of outside special interests and the other candidate is not."

Symes' campaign has expressed irritation at Solomon for attempting to draw this contrast, noting that his campaign finance reports show maxed-out contributions from wealthy, out-of-town donors. Speaking by phone to The Jersey Journal today, Symes responded to Solomon's criticism of the Stronger Foundations ad by repeating her campaign pledge to pursue publicly financed local elections in Jersey City.

"It's not a surprise that someone who has an extra $25,000 and a national network of donors doesn't care about locally funded elections," she said. "He doesn't need them."

Stronger Foundations is an independent expenditure group, and is permitted by state law to raise unlimited sums and spend money on behalf of candidates. It is not allowed to coordinate with Symes' campaign.

It has reported spending hundreds of thousands of dollars this election cycle, largely in legislative races, on behalf of Democrats and Republicans. On its campaign finance reports it says it spent $50,520 to support Bhalla, who won a six-way race on Nov. 7 to become Hoboken's new mayor.

The group, which has a Rahway P.O. box, says its money comes entirely from the labor management fund of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 825. Its registered agent is Christopher Lalevee, whose brother Greg is that union's business manager. Greg Lalevee was named to Gov.-elect Phil Murphy's transition team as a co-chair of the labor and workforce development committee.

IUOE Local 825 represents nearly 7,000 operating engineers throughout New Jersey and New York. Its members work on transportation infrastructure.

"Stronger Foundations, Inc. is an independent organization that was created to inform voters and the public about the importance of infrastructure and economic development investments throughout New Jersey, as well as provide information regarding the positions of legislators and other elected officials on these very same issues," Stronger Foundations spokesman Michael Makarski said. "Because it is an independent organization, it does not coordinate its efforts with candidates or their campaigns."

Makarski also works for public relations firm MWW. Stronger Foundations has reported paying only two companies, MWW and pollster McLaughlin and Associates.

Makarski previously worked for Vision Media, a politically connected Hudson County public relations company that is working for Symes' campaign.

Symes and Solomon, both Democrats, are vying to succeed Councilwoman Candice Osborne, who did not seek a second term on the nine-member council (Osborne has endorsed Symes). The Ward E race is one of four runoffs facing Jersey City voters next week.

Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday.

Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at tmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.