“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.
Donald Trump's former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, is being sued by his book publisher for breach of contract.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will have “overall security responsibility” in Gaza for an indefinite period after its war with Hamas.
The Israeli army severed northern Gaza from the rest of the besieged territory and pounded it with airstrikes Monday, preparing for expected ground battles with Hamas militants in Gaza's largest city and an even bloodier phase of the month-old war.
Four men were charged Monday over the theft of an 18-carat gold toilet from Blenheim Palace, the sprawling English country mansion where British wartime leader Winston Churchill was born.
Donald Trump began testifying Monday morning in his civil fraud trial, producing the spectacle of a former president and the leading Republican presidential candidate defending himself against allegations that he dramatically inflated his net worth.
The most-watched races in Tuesday’s off-year general election have all been dominated by the ongoing debate over abortion rights.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds is reportedly planning to endorse Florida Gov. Ron Desantis in the Republican primary.
The endorsement could give DeSantis' campaign a boost as he struggles to show progress against Donald Trump in the Republican primary.
With Donald Trump due on the witness stand next week, testimony from his adult sons in his civil business fraud trial wrapped up Friday with Eric Trump saying he relied completely on accountants and lawyers to assure the accuracy of financial documents key to the case.
The watchdog office overseeing the National Science Foundation is sending investigators to Antarctica's McMurdo Station after hearing concerns about the prevalence of sexual violence at the U.S. research base.
