State Assemblymember Ravi Bhalla can’t recall if it was channel 382 or 78 that played Hoboken City Council meetings on public access TV in the early 2000s and ultimately launched him into politics.
He remembers watching the “fuzzy … local version of C-SPAN … but not as good” broadcast and getting riled up over what he saw as “cronyism,” “mismanagement” and the “fiscal mess” on display by local councilmembers. Afterward, he would rant to his wife about how it was negatively affecting them and their then-2–year-old daughter’s “quality of life” in Hoboken, located just across the Hudson River from New York City.
He remembered: “My wife said, 'You're in your mid-30s. We could kind of complain forever or why don't you just run for office?'"
That conversation led to a “frigid” February 2008 weekend at St. Paul, Minnesota's Wellstone Academy, a political organizing fellowship program named after former Minnesota Sen. Paul Wellstone that trains would-be progressive candidates and campaign operatives. There, Bhalla learned how to run an independent campaign — everything from calculating how many votes you needed to win to what to do when you knock on a door and the person answering is unhappy to see you.
A few months later, he received the most votes in a 12-person Hoboken City Council race for three seats. In 2018, he was sworn in as Hoboken's mayor, becoming New Jersey's first Sikh mayor. And in 2025, he was among a handful of candidates outside the Democratic political establishment who won a seat on the state Assembly. Bhalla’s primary victory over Democratic incumbent Jessica Ramirez by fewer than 200 votes was the Garden State's closest race that year.
Progressives around New Jersey are now hoping to recreate Bhalla’s story multiple times over next year when the entire state Legislature is up for election.
Even as most political observers focus on this year’s midterm congressional elections, recruitment for left-leaning outsider candidates for 2027 is already underway. Earlier this month, the state’s Working Families Party launched a campaign searching for everyday New Jerseyans to run against other candidates backed by the powerful county committees that have dominated the state’s Democratic Party for decades. U.S. Sen. Andy Kim has also pledged to recruit and back a slate of candidates to run against well-connected Democratic candidates tied to his own party’s machine politics.
Primaries for the state Legislature in March of next year could be a bellwether for how Democrats are feeling as they head into the next presidential election. It will also be the first time since the fall of "the line" — the state’s long-running rule that allowed county political bosses to neatly tuck their preferred candidates under other prominent members of their parties on primary ballots — that the entirety of the Legislature is up for election.
Since "the line" was officially outlawed in 2025, progressive outsiders around the state have beaten establishment Democrats in a number of notable races.
In April, far-left Democrat and party outsider Analilia Mejia, a former state director of the New Jersey Working Families Party, defeated a crowded field of Democratic bigwigs in a primary to fill Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s vacated congressional seat.
Along with Bhalla, state Assembly candidates like Katie Brennan, Chigozie Onyema, Marisa Sweeney and Kenyatta Stewart all won seats in 2025 without county party backing. And in Jersey City, progressive Councilmember James Solomon defeated former Gov. Jim McGreevey in the mayor’s race.
Analilia MejiaAnalilia Mejia
Antoinette Miles, current state director for the New Jersey Working Families Party, said the organization has run recruitment campaigns before, looking for candidates to run for everything from their local school board to seats at the municipal and county levels. But she said this year is “different,” and the initial response has been robust.
“We have a specific eye to the Legislature with the notion that we want better lawmakers so that we can have better policies at the state level where we can effectuate the most amount of change,” she told Gothamist. “That's a strategic choice on our part.”
Ritu Pancholy, one of the organizers of the Essex Reform Democrats, a recently formed grassroots organization that has backed candidates against established Democratic committees, said people in her network are excited about the recruitment campaign.
“A number of friends and colleagues sent me their Instagram and social media posts to be like, 'Isn't this exciting?' 'Should we apply?'” she told Gothamist.
Simon Persico, a Democratic political consultant, said he expects the progressive enlistment effort to make establishment Democrats nervous, especially given the recent wins by Mejia and others.
“I think they’re certainly rattled,” he said.
Some Democratic party insiders have expressed support for the recruitment efforts, with a hint of anxiety over their anti-establishment sentiment.
Democratic Assembly Majority Leader Lou Greenwald told Gothamist he had “no problem” with the recruitment effort and that he hoped progressives will consider all 57 of the Democrats currently in the Assembly.
“I welcome it. I just would like those organizations to recognize that we have done a really good job of recruiting candidates,” he said.
In a brief phone interview, Gothamist asked prominent power broker Leroy Jones, chair of the New Jersey Democratic Party, what he thought of the outsider recruitment efforts.
“ They call it democracy, and I'll stop there. Full stop, period,” he said, adding, “I like democracy.”
But when asked if that meant he liked what Working Families and Kim are trying to achieve, Jones laughed. “No, that’s what you said.”
Peg Schaffer, chair of the Somerset County Democratic Committee, told Gothamist she doesn’t view recruitment operations like the Working Families campaign as a threat or a weakening of the party’s influence. She said she wants to see Democrats put the best candidates forward.
“Some of the people who are stepping up are trying to take a shot at the county parties,” she said. “But having been involved with county party organization and state party organizations for as long as I have, I believe in the system. And I know that we work hard to find people, engage people who share the Democratic principles.”
In some instances, as progressives have risen in prominence around parts of the state in recent months, the establishment has backed them. Progressive Ron Bautista faced stiff opposition three years ago from the Hudson County Democratic Committee during his first run for county commissioner. This year, the county party is backing Bautista, who won the June primary and faces a general election in November.
Miles said Working Families will spend the next couple of months reviewing applicants, interviewing potential candidates and then offering training not unlike what Bhalla received at the Wellstone Academy. She said the goal is to pull together a healthy cohort of candidates by the primary filing deadline in the spring.
“We’re going to be working hard to make some decisions and really think about who's going to be filing their paperwork in March,” she said.
Pancholy, who is also the vice chair of the South Orange Democratic Committee, said some candidates may run next year with the backing of the party, but who are also endorsed by the Working Families, Essex Reform Dems or other organizations because “they are connecting with their voters.”
“Everything is evolving. We're continuing to see the next evolution of New Jersey politics, and I wouldn't be surprised if all of it gets mixed up together in the next cycle,” Pancholy said.
