Two Democrats who joined the state Assembly this month are the first in decades to represent Hudson County without the backing of the powerful party organization. Assembly members Ravi Bhalla and Katie Brennan ran for the Assembly last June in a six-person race that saw them defeating two oppo nents who had the support of the Hudson County Democratic Organization and one incumbent assemblywoman. They cruised to victory in November in the largely Democratic 32nd Legislative District, which includes Hoboken and parts of Jersey City. Bhalla and Brennan say they’re focused on addressing issues like housing and transparency, rather than playing party politics. “At the end of the day, we’re all Democrats. I want to be a team player, and I want to make sure that we can work together to advance common objectives,” said Bhalla. The district is represented in the state Senate by Sen. Raj Mukherji, a Democrat who backed two of Bhalla’s and Brennan’s opponents in last June’s primary. Bhalla and Brennan say they’ve put the primary in the rearview mirror and already have several initiatives they want to work on with Mukherji, including his plans to reintroduce two immigrant protection bills that were vetoed last week by outgoing Gov. Phil Murphy. “We’re all adults, and we’ve all had jobs. Sometimes you don’t agree with people. Sometimes it’s rough,” Brennan said. “I, believe it or not, don’t relish being a kind of flamethrower. I really just want to get things done, and I think that Raj is ready to work with us on that.” Mukherji called Bhalla and Brennan both “intellectuals,” and said the three have the potential to be one of the strongest delegations in the Legislature. “The world has changed so much since the politics of a primary a year ago. Our democracy is in a state of disrepair,” Mukherji said. Assemblyman Ravi Bhalla (D) attends Gov. Phil Murphy’s final legislative address in the Assembly chambers in Trenton on Jan. 13, 2026. (Photo by Anne-Marie Caruso/New Jersey Monitor) Bhalla is an attorney who was elected Hoboken mayor in 2017 after previously serving on the city’s council for two terms. He’s garnered national attention for the square-mile city’s Vision Zero project, which has resulted in zero pedestrian deaths since 2017. He said his first priority now is economic justice for marginalized communities. He wants to explore whether the state could provide a guaranteed basic income, create more incentives to boost the construction of affordable housing, and build more resilient climate infrastructure across the Garden State. For years, storms in Hudson County meant widespread flooding in Hoboken, and Bhalla says that through resiliency projects, flooding risks have been reduced so they are weeks or months apart now instead of days. “That’s done through innovation, and that innovation can be applied through other parts of the state,” he said. Assemblywoman Katie Brennan (D) attends Gov. Phil Murphy’s final legislative address in the Assembly chambers in Trenton on Jan. 13, 2026. (Photo by Anne-Marie Caruso/New Jersey Monitor) Brennan is bringing a different background to the Golden Dome in Trenton. A Jersey City resident, she built her career in housing policy and previously worked at the state Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency. She’s also been an advocate for survivors of sexual assault. In 2018, she went public with claims that she was raped by a fellow member of Murphy’s campaign team and that the campaign and state officials failed to properly investigate her case. During the primary last year, one of her campaign ads said she would “turn my experience into our results.” Brennan said she, like Bhalla, wants to back housing initiatives in the Assembly. The two have already worked on a bill that would call for a statewide right to counsel for housing issues, and they plan to tackle “unconscionable” rent increases. She also wants to beef up transit, particularly in South Jersey. Brennan called herself a “proud progressive” in the Democratic-controlled Assembly, but said her experience in government agencies has also led her to be practical. “I think there is a mandate that everybody has now of recognizing the need for affordability. And voters in general — they just want to see stuff get done,” she said. “I know that words matter, things being funded matters, and it matters how it’s being implemented.” Republished courtesy of New Jersey Monitor, which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501 (c) (3) public charity. New Jersey Monitor maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Terrence T. McDonald for questions: [email protected]. The post Hudson County Democrats New to Assembly Want to ‘Get Things Done’ appeared first on Jersey City Times. ...read more read less