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Article snippet: Hoboken, N.J., is a city of firsts, its proud residents like to say. Some historians say the first organized baseball game was played there in 1846. The first zipper was believed to have been invented there, too. And now the city of some 55,000 people on the Hudson River can boast another first: Councilman Ravi Bhalla on Tuesday became the first Sikh elected mayor in New Jersey, and one of only a few Sikhs to become mayor of an American city. “I feel exhilarated,” Mr. Bhalla, 44, said in an interview on Wednesday. “I didn’t have any expectations one way or another of victory or defeat, I was prepared for both. And I feel very grateful to have the opportunity to serve Hoboken.” Mayor-elect Bhalla, a 17-year resident of the city, had won elections in 2009 and 2013 to the City Council and twice served as its president. He was endorsed for mayor by the incumbent, Dawn Zimmer, who announced in June that she would not seek re-election. Mr. Bhalla and Ms. Zimmer are both Democrats, though Hoboken’s mayoral elections are nonpartisan. But even his deep roots and prior success among the city’s voters did not make Mr. Bhalla immune from racist attacks. On Friday night, doctored campaign fliers appeared on car windows in Hoboken featuring a picture of Mr. Bhalla, who wears the turban that is traditional to his faith. Above his picture was the message: “Don’t let TERRORISM take over our Town!” The implication was one that is familiar to many Sikhs, who are part of a separate,... Link to the full article to read more