Gopal backs Mukherji for Senate as AAPI representation in N.J. legislature potentially grows

The only South Asian American to ever serve in the New Jersey State Senate is looking forward to seeing the number double.

Senate Majority Conference Leader Vin Gopal (D-Long Branch) has endorsed Assembly Judiciary Committee Chairman Raj Mukherji (D-Jersey City) for an open State Senate seat in the Hudson County-based 32nd district.

“As the first and only South-Asian American elected to the NJ senate — in a state with a rising AAPI population with over a million people, Democrats should rally behind Raj as the next Senator as history can continue to get made in the most diverse state in the country,” said Gopal.

The first Asian American to serve in the State Senate was Republican Kevin O’Toole (R-Cedar Grove), who is Korean American.   He served in 2001, and again from 2008 to 2017.  O’Toole also became the first Asian American legislator when he won a State Assembly seat in 1995.

Democrat Upendra Chivukula (D-Franklin) became the first South Asian legislator when he won a 17th district Assembly seat in 2001.  He sought the Democratic nomination for Congress in 2014 and left two months after the primary to become a Board of Public Utilities commissioner.

The Asian American and Pacific Islander community saw their ranks grown considerably in the New Jersey Legislature over the last two years.

Sterley Stanley (D-East Brunswick) won a 2021 special election convention for the 18th district Assembly seat after Nancy Pinkin was elected county clerk.

Last year, the size of the AAPI caucus in the legislature doubled with the election of Brandon Umba (R-Medford), Sadaf Jaffer (D-Montgomery), Shaima Haider (D-Tenafly) and Ellen Park (D-Englewood Cliffs) to the Assembly.

Mukherji, a former deputy mayor of Jersey City, is a five-term assemblyman and former Assembly Majority Whip.

“With a significant AAPI population in the district, there is no one better to be the next Senator than Assemblyman Mukherji,” Gopal said.  “Can’t wait to help every way for New Jersey to make history with Raj.”