“It’s becoming more and more important for regular citizens to get off the sidelines,” Ravi Bhalla, Hoboken's newly-elected mayor, told Cheddar on Monday. Just last Tuesday he became the first Sikh to be elected to the office in the state of New Jersey.
Prior to his victory, flyers that read “don’t let terrorism take over our town,” saturated his city. But Bhalla believes that Hoboken is not a city of hate, and the citizens showed that at the polls.
“That I’m sitting here talking to y’all as the first Sikh mayor is evidence of that fact,” he said. “The response of the poll was, ‘we don’t accept that type of conduct here in Hoboken.’”
But last Tuesday’s election represents an era in which people want to have their voices heard, a year that will go down in history as a time where people stood up to President Donald Trump, Bhalla said.
The two-term Hoboken City Councilman is not the only one to make history in the 2017 elections. Journalist Danica Roem, for example, became the first openly transgender person elected to the state house of Virginia, unseating a 13-term incumbent.
Bhalla, who’s lived in Hoboken for 17 years, remains hopeful that constituents can carry that spirit beyond this election season and effort change throughout the rest of President Trump’s tenure.
“I am hopeful that every time policies come out of the Trump administration that are inimical to our rights as Americans, that, that would further and further get more people more activated and involved,” Bhalla said.
A first-of-its-kind federal investigation has found two hospitals put a pregnant woman's life in jeopardy and violated federal law by refusing to provide an emergency abortion when she experienced premature labor at 17 weeks.
President Joe Biden is set to host President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. of the Philippines for White House talks Monday as concerns grow about the Chinese navy's harassment of Philippine vessels in the South China Sea.
While doctors fear the dangers of untrained people managing their own hormone replacement therapy, a growing number of transgender people say they see no other option for life-saving care.
Abortion bans in deeply conservative Nebraska and South Carolina each fell a single vote short of passing in their legislatures amid heated debates among Republicans.
Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked a Democratic measure to revive the Equal Rights Amendment, dealing yet another blow to supporters who have pushed for more than five decades to amend the Constitution to prohibit discrimination based on sex.
Former Vice President Mike Pence testified Thursday before a federal grand jury investigating efforts by then-President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Iran reportedly seized another oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman, according to the U.S. Navy.
Transgender lawmaker Zooey Zephyr was barred from participating on the House floor as Republican leaders voted Wednesday to silence her for the rest of 2023 session.
The DeSantis board said Disney’s move to retain control over their property was effectively unlawful and performed without proper public notice.
