Hoboken Election 2025

A lot of candidates, a whole lot.  Five mayoral candidates as expected, plus one perennial minor candidate.  15 candidates for Hoboken City Council. Four for Hoboken's sixth ward council seat.  Unofficially, it's a sprint to Election Day in Hoboken's non-partisan municipal elections.  Hudson County View released the official candidate list, for mayor: 2nd Ward Councilwoman Tiffanie Fisher, 3rd Ward Councilman Mike Russo, 4th Ward Councilman Ruben Ramos, Councilwoman-at-Large Emily Jabbour, former U.S. Treasury official Dini Ajmani, and Pat Waiters. See the Hudson County View for the complete story: https://hudsoncountyview.com/6-candidates-file-for-hoboken-mayor-15-for-council-at-large-4-for-6th-ward-council/  

Hoboken mayoral candidate, Dini Ajmani, a primarily self-funded candidate for Hoboken mayor is making a pre-Labor Day push with a direct mail campaign letter torching her four mayoral opponents, all present members of the City Council. The letter hit Hoboken mail boxes last week centered on moderate and right-of-center voters.  The campaign mailer, with no return address and appearing without letterhead, sprayed lead on the City Council for Hoboken's poor financial condition created by "smoke and mirrors." The quote is attributed to former business administrator, Jason Freeman, who served under the outgoing mayor, Ravi Bhalla, and points to years-long financial malfeasance. The letter applies a broad brush equally to all City Council members. Some will be less than enamored with such equal application of blame since they will note, Ravi Bhalla and Jason Freeman were less than forthcoming with the financial data even when requested.  The letter references Freeman as outgoi...

This year's Hoboken budget saga, which dragged on for months, pushing the city to the brink of a state takeover, is finally over. As expected, the compromise tax increase solution passed in a 5-3 vote, reducing the lame duck mayor's proposed 7% increase to 4.5%.  In what has become an annual ritual, Ravi Bhalla introduces his budget with a large tax increase, withholding details from the City Council. Then the legislative body scrambles to find savings and introduce reductions. In this instance, the stakes were even higher with a state takeover looming over Hoboken. In 2008, the state appointed Judy Tripodi, who was then late, as the fiscal monitor to oversee the city's finances.  Tripodi didn't trust the press, but for one 🐴, giving an exclusive to this editor announcing Hoboken taxes were going down.  It caused an upheaval, upending one campaign's strategy, saying the opposite, and sending then-councilwoman Dawn Zimmer into the mayor's office.  The upheaval a...

With Hoboken's finances in a dire condition and federal funding in legal jeopardy, what will be the final bill Ravi Bhalla leaves Hoboken? A commenter on X posted this colorful graphic. Ravi Bhalla, Hoboken's lame-duck mayor and divider in chief, is going out in style. He's styling for criminal illegal aliens and refuses to uphold the oath of office and American law.  In a story at the Hudson County View , Bhalla doubles down, siding with the radical leftists who executed pure sabotage at the US border in recent years as millions were waved into the country under the Biden years.  Already inserting Hoboken with other Democrat-led cities into one lawsuit, Bhalla defied a letter from the US Attorney General, Pam Bondi, which requested that the City of Hoboken cooperate with federal law and cease "giving aliens cover to perpetrate crimes in our communities and evade the immigration consequences that federal law requires." Bhalla responded with mockery, citing "...

The Washington Street disappearing bench controversy continues with a second round of protests announced for 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at City Hall. After the Ravi Bhalla Administration quietly "disappeared," a slew of benches on Washington Street, Kurt Gardiner, a long-time Hoboken resident and voice in the defunct Mile Square City Reform Movement, organized a beach-style bench protest at 7th and Washington earlier this month. Gardiner notes the response by Team Bhalla saw some benches quietly returned in downtown Hoboken without the installation bolts screwed into the sidewalk. In an email this morning to Hoboken Election 2025, Gardiner alleges eight benches between Fifth and Tenth Street remain MIA, stating, "I am putting the City on notice that those were all there previously... I want them all put back, or a real good reason why not."  He adds that approximately half a dozen benches have been returned downtown on Washington Street between First and Fourth Streets. ...

  Please avoid the area of 13th and Grand due to a gas leak on the 1300 block of Grand Street. @HobokenFire @HobokenPD @HobokenOEM on scene. Residents in the area are asked to stay inside, unless told otherwise by first responders. @PSEGdelivers on site. — Hoboken OEM (@HobokenOEM) August 15, 2025 Update: 🚨UPDATE: Gas leak at 1300 Grand St. is contained. @PSEGdelivers on site to make repairs. @CityofHoboken We are asking residents to please continue to avoid the area to allow crews to work. @HobokenFire @HobokenPD remain on the scene to assist. MORE: https://t.co/j8IWmHxAGe — Hoboken OEM (@HobokenOEM) August 15, 2025

The summer days are waning and the Hoboken mayoral campaigns are scorching even with many people down the shore or out of town on vacation. Thus for your summer reading pleasure, we bring you this grist for the mill rumor column with gristy chewables. Take human bites. With five major candidates declared for mayor, three stand above the field stacked together in one recent poll. Likely, those three mayoral candidates are all within the margin of error but equally significant, there's a substantial percentage of respondents declaring themselves in the undecided category.  That makes the Hoboken mayoral race up for grabs. Two of the top candidates are projected to go to an early December runoff. The Mile Square poll numbers were not detailed but in no particular order, the top three are:  Councilwoman Emily Jabbour , Councilman Ruben Ramos and Councilwoman Tiffanie Fisher .  Another major candidate, Councilman Michael Russo took top honors in one category: unfavorables. ...

Details are unconfirmed as one commenter on X points the finger. Can anyone confirm social media reports of a violent assault last night on 2nd Street and Jefferson Street in #Hoboken ? Things have deteriorated under the leadership of #TeamBhalla , which includes mayoral candidate Ms. @HobokenEmily pic.twitter.com/2zQtRAIBd6 — Hoboken Troll (@HobokenTroll2) August 12, 2025 Update : The incident is confirmed as an overdose victim. The victim who overdosed is verified by the Hoboken Police Department. 

Last Tuesday, Hoboken witnessed a street protest. It was the first among residents standing up against City Hall not seen since 2009 when Peter Cammarano, the short-lived crook was picked up by the Feds not a month into his term as mayor. This protest organized by Kurt Gardiner generated support among the Mile Square City and fear among the Ravi Bhalla crew. No response for comment came from the mayor's office and there was no official release addressing resident concerns. Quietly and without fanfare, there's reports a number of benches have been reinstalled on lower Washington Street not 48 hours after the protest.  Some are calling it a Giant victory for Hoboken while Councilwoman Emily Jabbour was doing a victory lap for herself on Instagram saying she would ask her boss, Ravi, to put the benches back. At least some of the low-information Instagram post readers fell for it.  Is this a Giant (Kurt Gardiner) victory for Hoboken residents or Emily Jabbour and her mayoral camp...

Last night, the City Council got behind the Ravi Bhalla corruption wagon with a narrow 4-3 vote moving forward the enormous, controversial Garage B redevelopment plan with a select developer in consideration. This with not a single member of the City Council even seeing ANY of the submitted developer bids!  Wouldn't you know it, the big developer vendor entering negotiations is a political donor to Ravi Bhalla (among other council members.) None of them recused themselves. No, they enriched themselves!  Voting yes on the secret big developer selection process to move forward: Emily Jabbor, Joe Quintero, Ruben Ramos, and Michael Russo . Voting no: Tiffanie Fisher, Paul Presinzano and Jim Doyle. Back up the Ravi Corruption Wagon - Brinks Truck. Time to get paid! 

The oddly scheduled Hoboken Special Council meeting tonight is on the Garage B vote at the request of Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla.  The push to name a vendor is being questioned on numerous fronts, one that it lacks a comprehensive approach. What's the rush says First Ward Councilman Paul Presinzano on X : Hoboken Election 2025 Note : Fair questions, but Ravi can't hear anything through the din of a Brinks Truck backing up.  

Dozens of residents gathered today outside a reinstalled bench at 7th and Washington Street, staging a peaceful "beach chair party" protest to draw attention to the city’s decision to remove numerous public benches along Washington Street. The event was organized by  Kurt Gardiner , a long-time stalwart of the Mile Square City's Reform Movement, a Hoboken-based artist and stroke survivor, who has decried the impact of the bench removal on seniors and residents with disabilities.  Gardiner explained that benches across the main commercial corridor offered much-needed places to rest, especially for those with limited mobility.  "I want every bench returned," Gardiner said, even as one mysterious bench reappeared at the site of the protest at 7th and Washington without safety screws bolted in place on Tuesday. Approximately 65 people attended, some bringing their own chairs. Gardiner added that a compromise may be benches with a sit-only design to prevent sleeping ...

Five Major Hoboken Campaigns ramp up as a summer protest is anticipated on Tuesday Hoboken approaches a crossroads, having narrowly avoided a state takeover in a divided City Council vote last month.  In a first for the Mile Square City in living history, five major candidates are squared up for the mayoral race, likely to be determined in a December runoff election. With over a decade covering Hoboken government and politics, there's no horse better equipped to tackle the thorny issues. With a history of investigating and exposing voter fraud, leading to the first-ever federal indictments and convictions here, among numerous corrupt doings and elections, this won't be music to everyone's ears. The stakes are high, and an informed public is the best defense: past, present, and future.  As the dog days of summer wind down, the noise level is ramping up. There are complaints about benches disappearing on Washington St. and a Tuesday noontime protest at Washington and Sevent...