Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla Launches U.S. Congressional Bid From New Jersey’s 8th District
- The announcement came after several moths of speculation and reports that the Indian American was trying to gauge interest in a run for the seat held by embattled Sen. Bob Menendez’s son.
Hoboken, New Jersey mayor Ravi Bhalla is challenging Rep. Rob Menendez Jr. for the state’s 8th District House seat in next year’s Democratic primary. Rob Menendez is the son of embattled U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez. The announcement came after several moths of speculation and reports that the Indian American was trying to gauge interest in a run, “and had raised $506,000,” according to the Hoboken Patch.
“We are at a pivotal moment in our nation, facing rising sea levels, rising inequality and rising hatred,” Bhalla said in his announcement today. “For Congress to rise to the challenge, we need new voices and new leadership—leadership that is focused on making real progress on solving problems and ensuring that all New Jerseyans and Americans no matter their skin color, ethnicity, gender, whom they choose to love, or where they started in life can still realize the American Dream.” He promised to be a Congressman who will “fight to make healthcare a right for everyone, take on climate change, protect a woman’s right to choose, battle back against hatred, and build an economy that works for all.”
He said he believes in “the America that his parents came to “with seven dollars to their name and dreams that anything was possible. Where an immigrant story is the American story, and where this Jersey kid can be proud to raise some Jersey kids of his own — to work towards a brighter future for them and for you.”
However, the launch video largely ignores Menendez, who is not mentioned by name, although his image is shown when Bhalla says that “America is better than … the politicians who strive only to serve themselves.”
If elected Bhalla would be the first turbaned Sikh man in Congress. The last Sikh American in office was Dalip Singh Saund who served in the United States House of Representatives from California’s 29th congressional district as a member of the Democratic Party. He was the first Sikh, Indian American, and Asian American elected to the United States Congress.
Rumors of Bhalla’s run began last September when Menendez senior confirmed that he’d continue to serve in the position he has held since 2006, despite calls from more than a dozen Senate Democrats for him to resign after his indictment last week. Along with his wife, Nadine, the senior lawmaker was charged for allegedly accepting luxury goods and large sums of money in bribes in exchange for committing corrupt acts, including providing sensitive information to the government of Egypt. The couple pleaded not guilty on Sept. 27 to bribery charges in a federal court in Manhattan.
According to the New Jersey Globe, the younger Menendez was first elected last year to the 8th congressional district, represented by his father two decades ago. He had “never held elected office before, and his path to Congress was heavily facilitated by Senator Menendez.” But with his father facing serious legal issues and calls to resign, he “may be in jeopardy of losing his seat after just one term,” the Globe says. “His fate will in large part rest with Democratic Party leaders in Hudson, Essex, and Union Counties, who will determine whether he retains the county organizational line.”
Bhalla is one of only 22 elected officials selected by the U.S. Department of State to serve on an inaugural Assembly of Local Leaders (ALL) to address “global challenges that effect local communities,“ according to NJ Advance Media. He recently participated in COP28, the UN Climate Summit, held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
A former eight-year member of the Hoboken City Council, he made history in 2017, by becoming the first Sikh to hold elected office in New Jersey and the first directly elected Sikh to become mayor in the U.S. In November 2021, he was easily elected to another four-year term, in what is described as an “exceptionally rare uncontested mayoral race.”
He came to Hoboken at the age of 26, “a bachelor fresh out of law school starting his first job at a small law firm in Newark, New Jersey,” according to his profile on his website. He received his undergraduate education from the University of California at Berkeley, where he received a B.A. in Political Psychology. Upon graduation, he attended the London School of Economics (L.S.E.) in the United Kingdom and received a Master of Science degree in Public Administration and Public Policy, and also earned a Juris Doctor Degree from Tulane Law School in New Orleans, Louisiana. He and his wife Bindya reside in Hoboken with their two children, Arza Kaur and Shabegh Singh.
(Top photo, Ravi Bhalla/Facebook)