Ravinder Bhalla
American politician
Ravinder Singh Bhalla (born May 10, 1973), often simply called Ravi Bhalla, is an American civil rights lawyer and politician, who served as the 39th Mayor of Hoboken, New Jersey, between 2018 and 2026, and represents the 32nd Legislative District in the New Jersey General Assembly.
Prior to becoming mayor, he served on the Hoboken City Council from 2009 to 2018. In 2017, he was elected as New Jersey's first Sikh mayor.
A Democrat, Bhalla was a candidate for New Jersey's 8th congressional district in the 2024 election. In the November 2025 general election, Bhalla was elected to represent the 32nd Legislative District in the New Jersey General Assembly.
Early life
Ravinder Singh Bhalla was born in Passaic, New Jersey, and raised in Woodland Park (then called West Paterson.) His parents, Ranbir and Harminder Singh, live in Montville, New Jersey, where they own and manage a company that manufactures high-pressure sodium street lamps that Ranbir Singh, a physicist, invented himself.
Bhalla earned a Bachelor of Science degree in political psychology from the University of California, Berkeley, a master's degree in public administration and public policy from the London School of Economics, and a juris doctor from Tulane University Law School in New Orleans.
Career
Legal practice
Bhalla was a civil rights attorney at the law firm of Florio, Perrucci, Steinhardt & Fader, who have represented NJ Transit.
In a 2002 case, Bhalla represented three high school students at Hunterdon Central High School in Flemington, New Jersey. The high school had implemented a policy of random drug-testing of students participating in any extracurricular activities or who have a parking permit, and the three students filed a lawsuit in New Jersey State Court alleging the school's drug-testing policy violated their rights according to the New Jersey Constitution.
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