After Getting Death Theats, Hoboken Mayor Bhalla Sends Message About 'Respect'

HOBOKEN, NJ — After several years of getting death threats, Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla sent a message to the community on Thursday revealing details publicly about the threats, in an effort to call for "inclusion, civility and respect for shared values," a spokesman said.

While some racial comments and threats sent to Bhalla and family over the years have already been written about in the media — most recently in a Hoboken Patch story, and in an investigative story in the local Hoboken Reporter shortly after his 2017 election — Bhalla had not revealed explicit details of the threats until sending the message to Hoboken residents.

Thursday's email blast, funded by Bhalla's campaign, included a photo of a note he received in 2022 saying, "Now its time to kill you you f----- bitch Muslen" [sic]. (See the photo above.)

While Bhalla is not Muslim — he's a Sikh Indian — he has said in the past that attacking anyone for their religion or race is offensive.

Bhalla's campaign spokesman, Rob Horowitz, explained on Friday, "The series of recent incidents in the community, including the sending of racially tinged and sexually offensive packages to elected officials and private citizens' homes and the anti-semitism expressed at a council meeting, demonstrating that Hoboken is not immune to disturbing national trends, persuaded the mayor that it was important to discuss and reinforce the need to be vigilant against hate, remind Hobokenites of their shared values and common humanity, and urge that we do not demonize those with whom we disagree."

(See a story about the antisemitic incident here.)

In his message Thursday, Bhalla wrote, "I’ll close by asking us all to show faith in our neighbors and our potential when we work together. Disagreement on issues of importance is what it means to live in a democracy, but when it is all said and done, when an election or debate is over, we should always come together as one community, one Hoboken."

During Bhalla's first mayoral election in 2017, anonymous flyers claiming he would bring "terrorism" to town were placed on car windshields. Bhalla narrowly won the race.

While four people were questioned by the Hoboken police during an investigation, they "lawyered up," said police at the time, and no one was ever publicly charged.

Bhalla recently confirmed that he may face Rep. Robert Menendez Jr. in the Democratic primary for Congress next summer. Read more about that here.

Bhalla is not up for re-election as mayor again until 2025, but Hoboken is undergoing a heated City Council race for six seats, including four candidates backed by the mayor.

Here Is Bhalla's Message:

I hope all is well. I’ll get straight to it. I write today to raise an admittedly unpleasant topic, but one that I think needs to be raised as we all work together to make Hoboken a better place to live, work, and raise a family.

As you may have heard, my friends, neighbors, and colleagues were sent several unsolicited and unwanted packages to our homes that contained racially charged, sexually explicit, and threatening messages, all connected to local politics. And, last year, my family opened the mail to read multiple death threats that had been made against us. These threats were investigated by law enforcement who continue to diligently pursue the person(s) who made them.

Let me be clear. Hoboken is a welcoming, inclusive community. Over the years we have all worked in concrete ways to ensure that remains true. Together we define what it means to live in Hoboken, and together we continue to visibly remain true to our highest ideals as a community and nation.

Because Hoboken is so welcoming, I believe remaining silent when we fall short of our ideals is not an option. I write to share this information as means of public education and to make clear that here in Hoboken, we will both hold perpetrators accountable and work to immediately reaffirm that inclusion, civility, and respect are shared values. Political discourse in our nation is often deeply divisive, one side will not talk to the other and even demonize "the other side", but it does not have to be that way.

I believe in Hoboken we have shown that when it matters, we find ways to talk to each other, even with those with whom we often disagree and ultimately move forward together.

I’ll close by asking us all to show faith in our neighbors and our potential when we work together. Disagreement on issues of importance is what it means to live in a democracy, but when it is all said and done, when an election or debate is over, we should always come together as one community, one Hoboken.

Thank you for hearing me, as I always say, in Hoboken, the best is yet to come.

Mayor Ravi S. Bhalla