Dear John,

 

You may have seen the attack ads against me—fueled by corporate interests and the old Hudson County political machine. Let me tell you a story.

 

When I first ran for City Council, a local political powerbroker asked me, “How many Sikhs live in Hoboken?” He explained that because I was not Latino, Italian, or a senior, I had no natural base of votes (Offensive, right?).

 

I replied, “Four.” He said, “Four percent? That’s good.” I said, “No, there are just 4 Sikhs in Hoboken—me, my brother, and our wives.” He told me I would not even win the apartment building where I lived. 

 

But I ran for office, knocked on doors relentlessly, and in a 12-candidate race for 3 seats on Hoboken’s City Council, I was the top vote-getter.

 

For the past 16 years, it’s been the same. I have never had political insider support. When I ran for Mayor in 2017, the whisper campaign was that my turban made me “unelectable,” and like today, the constant attacks darken my skin on mailers, or even depict me as a snake charmer or Arab dictator. 

 

But here I am, proud to serve as Mayor of Hoboken, the greatest small city in America, and lead our City to even greater heights. And after all these years, I’m still not for sale. Now I’m not running to make the old Hudson County Machine happy—I’m running for State Assembly to deliver results for working families.

 

In Hoboken, our grassroots, real people, good government movement never sought permission to act. Instead, we got to work, and:

 

✅ Became a national leader in climate resiliency (New York Times)

✅ Achieved 8 years without a traffic death—proving Vision Zero works (AP News)

✅ Beat back referendums to gut Hoboken’s rent control laws and expanded services of Hoboken’s Tenant Advocate’s office (Hudson County View)

✅ Scored a perfect 100% from the Human Rights Campaign seven years in a row for Hoboken’s inclusive LGBTQIA+ policies (Patch)

✅ Maintained Hoboken’s excellent AA+ credit rating & recognized from S&P for strong fiscal policies (Patch)
✅ Prioritized the building of critical affordable housing with even more ambitious projects in the pipeline (Hudson Reporter, which covered my final State of the City address and record)

 

Now I’m running for State Assembly with the same mindset: independent, bold leadership that’s focused on results, on people and not petty, weak, ineffectual insider politics controlled by the highest bidder. I’m still running as a Democrat, but I’m not beholden to party bosses. 

 

While the old Hudson County political machine runs negative ads (they even called me a Karen?), we’re focused on what matters: lowering costs, fighting for housing, protecting public education, and standing up to Trump and Musk’s extremism.

 

The insiders may have special interests, but we’ve got the people. Chip in to help us fight back and keep our message strong. Donate Here.

 

Thank you for being in this fight with us. If you have any questions, please reply to this email, and I’ll get back to you.

Sincerely,

Ravi Bhalla

Mayor of Hoboken

Candidate for State Assembly LD-32

 

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