page_title: Ravinder Bhalla
section_title: Politics
hierarchical_section_title: Ravinder Bhalla / Career / Politics
caption_attribution_description: English: Ravinder Bhalla being interviewed on MSNBC following his election as Mayor of Hoboken in 2017.
context_page_description: Ravinder Singh Bhalla, often simply called Ravi Bhalla, is an American civil rights lawyer, politician, and the mayor of Hoboken, New Jersey. Prior to becoming mayor, he served in the city council of Hoboken, New Jersey since 2009. On November 7, 2017, he was elected New Jersey's first Sikh mayor, as well as the first elected mayor in the United States who is a Sikh and wears a turban.
context_section_description: Bhalla ran for an at-large seat on the Hoboken City Council in 2009 on incumbent mayor Dawn Zimmer's ticket. During Bhalla's campaign, he emphasized fiscal responsibility, slowing down development, increasing the amount of affordable housing, lower city property taxes, and transparency in government. In the election, Bhalla received 13% of the vote, advancing to a runoff election. In the runoff election, Bhalla received 17% of the vote, winning an at-large seat on the Hoboken City Council for a four-year term in office. He was sworn in on July 1, 2009.
  Bhalla served as the chairman of the Hoboken Democratic Party from 2010 to 2011. He also served as vice president of the council between 2010 and 2011, and he served as president of the city council from 2011 to 2012.
  In 2011, Bhalla ran to represent the 33rd Legislative District in the New Jersey General Assembly. During his campaign, Bhalla emphasized that New Jersey had the highest property taxes in the country, and he advocated for lowering property taxes, offset by an increase to state income taxes. Bhalla focused on creating jobs and strengthening New Jersey's hate crime laws. Bhalla opposed New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's $1.3-billion cuts in the state's education budget. Bhalla called himself an Independent Democrat. Bhalla was defeated in the Democratic primary election, coming in third place, but he has stated that he still has political aspirations to be a legislator at the state or Federal level.
  In 2012, following Superstorm Sandy, Bhalla distributed food to people at multiple locations in Hoboken.
  Bhalla filed to run again to represent the 33rd District in the [New Jersey General Assembly in 2013. The following month, Bhalla withdrew from the election when Carmelo Garcia's candidacy was cleared. Instead Bhalla ran for reelection to the Hoboken City Council. Bhalla received 14% of the vote, giving him a second four-year term in office.
  In 2017, Bhalla decided to run for a third term on the Hoboken City Council. When incumbent Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer decided not to run for reelection, she endorsed Bhalla in a surprise press conference. During Bhalla's mayoral campaign, he advocated for response development, open-space initiatives, defending Hoboken's citizens' rights from the Trump administration, fiscal responsibility, holding the line on local taxes, and building a surplus for unanticipated city emergencies. Bhalla won the election with 33% of the vote. His term of office began January 1, 2018.
caption: Bhalla during an interview on MSNBC on the day after his 2017 election win
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