Assemblyman Raj Mukherji

ABOUT RAJ

A champion of the middle class and working families, State Assemblyman Raj Mukherji proudly represents the 33rd Legislative District (Hudson County) in the New Jersey Legislature. He is a former Deputy Mayor of Jersey City and former Sergeant in the Marine Corps Reserve. In the private sector, he is a lawyer and healthcare investor and was previously an information technology CEO.

In the Assembly, he sits on the Budget Committee, responsible for crafting the state budget (approximately $33 billion in FY 2015), as well as the Commerce and Economic Development and Labor Committees. Assemblyman Mukherji is the only South Asian legislator presently serving in the state, the only former Marine presently serving in the New Jersey General Assembly, and the first Indian-Bengali state legislator in the United States.

In his first two terms, Mukherji has earned a statewide reputation as a prolific, effective lawmaker. He was a primary sponsor of numerous bills focusing on economic development and job creation; protecting seniors and expanding their access to healthcare and essential services; infrastructure; public safety; veterans; social justice; addiction prevention, treatment, and recovery; animal welfare; and a myriad of other issues of importance to his constituents. In just his first term, 52 bills prime-sponsored by Mukherji were signed into law by Governor Christie. He was named the Assembly’s "Humane Legislator of the Year" recipient for 2015 by the Humane Society and 2015 Legislator of the Year by the NJ Law Enforcement Police Officers Brotherhood. Assemblyman 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.

The son of immigrants, Assemblyman 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 - the late Asim Mukherji, an accountant and musician - 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 and inspired much of his subsequent advocacy in that field.

Raj had founded an Internet consulting and software development company while in middle school, grew it, and later sold it to a larger technology company to enlist in the Marines two weeks after 9/11 at age 17, where he served in military intelligence as a reservist. 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’s degree from Thomas Edison State University, an individualized Master of Liberal Arts focused on national security from the University of Pennsylvania, and a law degree (Juris Doctor), cum laude, from Seton Hall Law School, which he attended on a Chancellor's Scholarship.

At 19, Raj was a founder and Managing Partner of a public affairs firm that he grew into the state’s third largest lawyer-lobbying firm while learning the inner workings of the State House and becoming fascinated by the policymaking process. His clients included social justice causes, higher education institutions, Fortune 500 corporations, financial institutions, healthcare institutions, government agencies, and others. While serving as the firm's Managing Partner, Mukherji advocated to abolish the death penalty in New Jersey and replace it with life imprisonment without parole; lobbied for LGBTI equality; worked with the NJEDA and the Business Action Center in successfully advocating for job creation and tax credit incentives; successfully facilitated complex transactions, including the sales of nursing homes and hospitals; and secured millions in grants or appropriations for hospitals and nonprofit clients and advocated to expand Medicaid and charity care for the underprivileged, a cause especially dear to his heart due to his father’s narrative.

At 24, Raj was appointed Commissioner and Chairman of the Jersey City Housing Authority, the youngest in city history. At the state's second largest housing authority, he earned nationwide acclaim for his oversight and various reforms at the $75 million agency serving over 16,000 residents and approximately 6,700 households.  At 27, he was appointed Deputy Mayor of Jersey City, where he served from 2012-13. At 28, Raj won a six-way Democratic primary election for Assembly by a 36-point margin in 2013 and won the November general election by a 20-point margin. He was reelected in 2015. His public service experience also includes teaching Constitutional Law as an Adjunct Professor at New Jersey City University and service as a municipal prosecutor.

For Assemblyman Raj Mukherji's page at the Assembly Majority Office, which includes legislative press releases, please surf to: http://assemblydems.com/memberindex.asp?RosterKey=364.