Hoboken Councilwoman-at-Large Jabbour officially launches campaign for mayor

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Hoboken Councilwoman-at-Large Emily Jabbour has officially launched her campaign for mayor, making her the first candidate to enter the field after incumbent Ravi Bhalla declared he wouldn’t seek a third term.


By John Heinis/Hudson County View

“I love this city and am so proud to call Hoboken home and raise our kids here with my husband, Peter. I’m excited to put my energy and experience to work, and today announce my campaign to be Hoboken’s next Mayor,” Jabbour said in a statement.

“As a mom, you better believe I’ve got a long to-do list with new ideas to continue improving our community and make Hoboken a great place to live, work, and raise a family.”

Jabbour ran with Bhalla in 2017 and 2021, winning by a comfortable margin both times, and quietly emerged as a potential successor to Bhalla in late 2023 as he prepared to challenge U.S. Rep. Rob Menendez (D-8) in the June 4th, 2024 primary.

While Bhalla ended up losing by around 15 points, largely due to North Hudson turning out strong numbers for the incumbent, he won the Mile Square City, as well as Jersey City’s Wards C, D, and E, by a wide margin.

As luck would have it, that is the exact make up the 32nd Legislative District and it’s all but guaranteed Bhalla will seek a state Assembly seat in that district in the June 10th primary  after announcing on Friday that he wouldn’t seek re-election.

Back in October, HCV first reported that Jabbour was gearing up to run for mayor with Bhalla eyeing an Assembly seat.

Jabbour is expected to be in a competitive field that includes at least three of her colleagues: 2nd Ward Councilwoman Tiffanie Fisher, 3rd Ward Councilman Mike Russo, and 4th Ward Councilman Ruben Ramos.

They have all been critics of the current administration to varying degrees.

Also of note is that Jabbour’s campaign has brought on Christian Duffy, a veteran of Garden State ballot box battles who served as a deputy campaign manager for Menendez in his epic showdown with Bhalla.

“We’ve got more work to do for better schools, safer neighborhoods, improved constituent services, public transportation that works for all of us, and real transparency and accountability in how decisions get made and taxpayer money gets spent,” Jabbour added.

“I’m looking forward to meeting you in living rooms, coffee shops, and parks across our city in the weeks and months ahead. I hope you’ll join us and be part of our grassroots, community campaign.”

The non-partisan Hoboken mayoral race isn’t until November 4th, where all three council-at-large seats will also be up for grabs, as well as the vacant 6th Ward council seat due to the passing of Council President Jen Giattino in November.

The council opted not to appoint a replacement last month.

As for LD-32, only progressive activist Katie Brennan, who is running as an independent, and Assemblywoman Jessica Ramirez, a part of Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop’s slate as part of his bid for governor, have declared for the Assembly race.

Bhalla could ultimately run with either of them, but even if he doesn’t, he is expected to run to succeed Assemblyman John Allen, who unsuccessfully ran on his ticket in 2017 and later became his chief of staff.


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7 COMMENTS

  1. Very exciting! Our last -first female mayor was much-admired, and if you didn’t like her you respected her. Jabbour has many, many critics in Hoboken’s incel community, but the vast majority of Hoboken residents who’ve come to rely on Jabbour to ‘fix’ problems know what she’s about, and that is PUBLIC SERVICE.

    Looking forward to our next female governor Sherrill, and our next female mayor Jabbour! Incels, we will drink your tears! lol

  2. Take a look around Hoboken the last eight years
    Do you remember camping tents on the waterfront all over Pier A Park or in the southwest Park?
    Have you ever seen it so bad where the city can’t fix a brand new children’s sprinkler fountain?
    Has it ever been this bad where there’s trash in the streets so overwhelming that rats are running around in broad daylight?
    She’s nothing like Dawn Zimmer – zimmer would’ve actually done something…
    Dawn wasn’t perfect, but she had her heart and soul in this town and she spoke out against power
    She spoke up against political machines she spoke up against police unions
    Emily wants to make it look like she is the next zimmer but she’s far from it. She has never voted against Ravi Bhalla bad items.
    A real leader speaks up and votes independently
    She’s publicly admitted that she tried to suppress public input when it came to the high school Referendum
    She has setback as Ravi Bhalla hired his failed council candidates and added them to the payroll
    She supported removing Cheryl Fallick from the rain control board originally and only put her back on this year after they realize you can’t beat Cheryl

    Emily Jabbour may be a very nice person on the outside but deep down she’s just another political hack that when cornered or questions is nothing more than another Hudson County Democratic Organization puppet
    HCDO+Jabbour= more of the same

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