Raj Mukherji

Raj Mukherji (born July 15, 1984) is an American businessman, lawyer, actor and Democratic Party politician who has represented the 32nd legislative district in the New Jersey Senate since 2024. He previously served five terms in the New Jersey General Assembly from 2014 to 2024, during which he served as majority whip and deputy speaker. He is a former healthcare and information technology CEO, former deputy mayor of Jersey City, former local prosecutor, and law professor. He is a former U.S. Marine Corps sergeant who enlisted two weeks following the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Mukherji started multiple successful businesses before completing his teenage years and was sworn into his first public office at age 24. becoming the second South Asian legislator in state history and the first Bengali legislator in American history. In 2016 and 2017, Mukherji was identified by POLITICO as the most prolific lawmaker in the state because of his primary sponsorship of more bills signed into law than any other legislator.

The 32nd district includes the Hudson County municipalities of Jersey City and Hoboken.

Early life, education, and career President Obama discusses urban issues with Jersey City leaders. From right to left: Mukherji, County Executive Tom DeGise, and then-Mayor Jerramiah Healy Born in Kolkata, India, Mukherji is the son of Bengali immigrants who arrived from India in 1970. His family first settled in California, and then relocated to Fanwood, New Jersey. While he was in high school, economic circumstances forced his parents to return to their native India and he stayed behind in the United States. While his parents were in India, he supported himself through high school, college, and grad school as an emancipated minor. – could no longer work as a result of his health but could not afford health coverage without employment.

Labeled a "wunderkind" by the media, eventually earning his bachelor's degree from Thomas Edison State University.

Mukherji cofounded and led as CEO companies that achieved an aggregate half billion dollars in enterprise value, spanning healthcare, information technology, medical cannabis, and real estate. At 19, he had cofounded a public affairs firm that he grew into the state's third largest lawyer-lobbying firm, reportedly through his ties to New Jersey Democratic establishments and the Obama administration. In 2011, he was named an annual "Legends" honoree by the Hudson County Chamber of Commerce. the state's second largest public housing authority and a $90 million agency serving over 16,000 residents and nearly 7,000 households. The agency was also showered with federal grants and aid from the Obama administration, which dispatched then-Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan to Jersey City on multiple occasions to announce tens of millions in competitive federal grants the agency had won.

At 27, Mukherji was tapped to fill a vacancy as deputy mayor of Jersey City, New Jersey, the state's second largest city with a $500 million operating budget. According to The Jersey Journal, while deputy mayor, Mukherji declined the $110,056 salary and a city-issued car, instead opting to earn one dollar per year due to "the austere economic climate." He was also a Superior Court-appointed member of the Juvenile Conference Committee. Combating the state's heroin, opiate, and prescription drug addiction epidemic by requiring physicians and pharmacists to access the state's Prescription Monitoring Program to prevent "doctor shopping;" Making New Jersey the first state in the United States to enact a ban on ivory commerce (in an effort to thwart profits for poachers and wildlife traffickers and to protect elephants and other endangered or threatened species), which effort garnered public support for Mukherji's ivory ban legislation by actress Meryl Streep and musician Billy Joel and inspired similar prohibitions in other states; Legislation expanding the state's Drug Court programs and creating a substance abuse recovery housing program at NJ's four-year public colleges and universities with on-campus housing in order to provide a supportive substance-free dormitory environment that recognizes the unique risks and challenges faced by recovering students, along with other legislation expanding access to mental health and substance abuse treatment and recovery services; Repealing prohibitions on sports betting in New Jersey to help Atlantic City's gaming industry rebound; "The Parkinson's Disease Public Awareness and Education Act," a first-in-the-nation law dedicating resources to create a public education and outreach campaign for Parkinson's disease diagnosis and treatment, inspiring a similar effort in Kansas; Combating bedbugs by requiring sanitation, protective, and labeling procedures in the sale of used mattresses and boxsprings; Legislation improving prison addiction recovery programs (allowing certain drug treatment programs to operate in state and county jails) to help break the cycle of recidivism; Creating criminal penalties for fatal hit-and-run boating accidents; Improving the state's higher education system, develop an advanced cyberinfrastructure plan, and initiate a Big Data consortium; and Securing state infrastructure investments for his home county of Hudson.

Committees Committee assignments for the 2026-2027 Legislative Session are: Military and Veterans’ Affairs, Chair Transportation, Vice Chair Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens

District 32 Each of the 40 districts in the New Jersey Legislature has one representative in the New Jersey Senate and two representatives in the New Jersey General Assembly. The representatives from the 32nd District for the 2026—2027 Legislative Session are: Senator Raj Mukherji (D) Assemblyman Ravinder Bhalla (D) Assemblywoman Katie Brennan (D)

Controversy Mukherji became embroiled in controversy when he was tapped to be the new chairman of the Jersey City Housing Authority. Later, while under Mukherji's leadership, the agency came under fire for its strict "One-Strike" eviction policy, enabled by federal legislation enacted under President Clinton, allowing housing authorities to evict entire households where a resident is charged with a serious crime (without being convicted). While defending the legislation, Mukherji convened public hearings prior to ordering an overhaul of the One-Strike policy, telling Jersey City Independent that the policy had "served as a deterrent and important tool to reduce drug-related and violent criminal activity in public housing (...but) certain revisions may be appropriate to ensure an equitable policy and eviction process... We want to be fair and equitable to criminal defendants, as the presumption of innocence must be sacrosanct, while being mindful that our foremost responsibility is to do all that we can to keep our tenants safe."

Personal life Mukherji married Google project manager and former NY1 producer Natasha Alagarasan in a Hindu ceremony on September 16, 2017.

Electoral history Senate

General Assembly