ABOUT RAJ
A champion of the middle class and working families, Senator Raj Mukherji proudly represents the 32nd District (Hudson County) in the New Jersey Senate, where he is Chairman of the Senate Military and Veterans’ Affairs Committee, Vice Chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, and a member of the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee. In 2013, he won a six-way primary election to the State Assembly at the age of 28 and went on to serve five terms, including in leadership as Majority Whip and Deputy Speaker of the General Assembly. In the Assembly, he also served as Chairman of the Judiciary Committee and Vice Chairman of the Appropriations Committee.
A former healthcare and technology entrepreneur, Deputy Mayor of Jersey City, and local prosecutor, he enlisted in the U.S. Marines as a reservist two weeks after the September 11th attacks at 17 and served in military intelligence. He has achieved hundreds of millions in aggregated enterprise value across companies he founded and led as CEO or co-owner, while creating hundreds of jobs along the way. Holding a firm view that housing and healthcare are fundamental human rights, Senator Mukherji also volunteered for over 15 years as Chairman of the Jersey City Housing Authority.
In the State Legislature, Raj has earned a statewide reputation as a prolific, effective lawmaker. His bills and appropriations priorities have focused on economic development and job creation; infrastructure and mass transit; expanding access to healthcare and mandating insurance coverage of certain healthcare services and prescription benefits; sustainability and environmental protection; reproductive autonomy; fairness for immigrants and marginalized communities; college affordability; housing affordability; veterans’ welfare; public safety; social justice and civil liberties; addiction prevention and treatment; animal welfare; voting rights; helping small businesses thrive and grow; and myriad other issues of importance to his constituents.
For his stewardship on natural resource protection and climate change, Senator Mukherji was a 2021 and 2024 Sierra Club Award recipient, 2023 Emerald Award recipient from the League of Conservation Voters, and recipient of the annual Legislative Leadership Award from NY/NJ Baykeeper in 2018 and 2022 (making him the only two-time awardee in the organization’s history). Senator Mukherji was named the “Humane Legislator of the Year” recipient for 2014 by the Humane Society. In 2017, he was recipient of the Mortar & Pestle Award from the NJ Pharmacists Association, awarded annually to a non-pharmacist with the greatest contributions to the profession of pharmacy and the public. He was named the 2022 Legislator of the Year by the NJ Psychological Association for successful efforts to expand and destigmatize access to mental health services. Senator Mukherji was also named a 2015 honoree of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Hudson County for championing the expansion of teens’ access to mental health services, and he received the 2015 Legislator Award from the NAACP for his civil rights advocacy. In 2022, he was named “Legislator of the Year” by the State Troopers Fraternal Association (STFA), after having been named 2015 Legislator of the Year by the NJ Law Enforcement Police Officers Brotherhood. He has also been named Legislator of the Year by both the Jersey City POBA and the Kearny PBA. He received the 2015 Compadre Award from Latina Civic PAC.
The son of immigrants, Senator Mukherji supported himself through high school, college, and grad school as an emancipated minor when economic circumstances forced his parents to return to their native India. After suffering a pituitary tumor, stroke, and other ailments, Raj's father could no longer work as a result of his health but could not afford health coverage without employment. This experience shaped Raj's perspective and interest in healthcare access and policy and inspired much of his subsequent advocacy in that area. After founding an Internet consulting and software development company while in middle school, Raj grew the business and later sold it to a larger technology company to enlist in the Marines two weeks after the attacks of September 11th at age 17, where he served in military intelligence and was honorably discharged as a Sergeant. The young entrepreneur withdrew from high school after completing ninth grade to focus on his business endeavors and support himself after his parents were forced to move to India. At 15, he enrolled in an early college program at Bard College at Simon’s Rock and eventually earned a Bachelor of Arts from Thomas Edison State University; a Master of Public Policy from Princeton University; an individualized Master of Liberal Arts focused on national security from the University of Pennsylvania; and a Juris Doctor, cum laude, from Seton Hall University School of Law. He is admitted to practice law in the State of New Jersey; the U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey; the U.S. District Court, Western District of New York; the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois; the United States Tax Court; the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit; the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces; and the Supreme Court of the United States.
Senator Mukherji is a Rodel Fellow of the Rodel Institute (formerly of the Aspen Institute), a member of NewDEAL Leaders, and an Adjunct Professor of Law at Seton Hall University School of Law, where he also serves on the Board of Visitors. He previously taught Constitutional Law as an Adjunct Professor at New Jersey City University. He is also a member of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) and Actors’ Equity (AEA). Senator Mukherji is presently the only former Marine in the New Jersey Legislature. He was the first Indian-Bengali state legislator elected in American history and the second South Asian American to be elected in state history. He lives in Jersey City with his wife, Natasha, and their two children, Leo and Liana.