Mussab Ali was just 20 years old—and still a student at Rutgers University—Newark—when he became the youngest elected official in Jersey City’s history and the first Muslim to win public office after joining the school board.
Eight years later, he’s running for mayor in the city’s nonpartisan election.
As an immigrant in a city of immigrants, a long-time resident at a time when many are being displaced, and a millennial when millennials are a rising demographic, Ali believes he’s perfect for the job.
“I’ve seen both sides of it. I see those people who are moving to Jersey City who are wealthy and younger, and I see all the residents who’ve been pushed out,’’ said Ali, who graduated in 2019 with a degree in Biology and Economics.
Ali credits his time at Rutgers-Newark—particularly his fellowship with Rutgers Law School’s Center on Law, Inequality, and Metropolitan Equity (CLiME)—with sharpening his understanding of housing policy, immigrant rights, and the power of local government.
“Rutgers-Newark is where it all started,” Ali said. “I remember being 19-years-old, sitting in on a lunch talk on campus where people were discussing the local office, and I didn’t even know what a school board was. That space gave me the confidence to say, ‘Why not step up and do this?’”
“What was so powerful for me was that I came from one of the most diverse cities in America and I went to one of the most diverse campuses in America,’’ said Ali.
Most recently, Ali completed a fellowship with CLiME, co-authoring a report on how gentrification is—and isn’t— playing out in three mid-sized New Jersey cities: Newark, Paterson and his hometown.
The report, “The Other Cities: Migration and Gentrification in Jersey City, Newark and Paterson,’’ explores how housing affordability, immigration, economic forces and demographic shifts are shaping each city. The research, he said, helped him grow as a political leader.
“One of the most powerful things CLiME gave me was the ability to take data and turn it into stories,” he explained. “I talk to residents every day, but now I can also point to the numbers.”
Ali, who immigrated to Jersey City from Pakistan as a child in 2000, was a pre-med student at Rutgers-Newark when he made his first run for the Jersey City school board in 2016. He became board president five years later.
At the time, he had no political aspirations. But his memories of the discrimination faced by his parents in the aftermath of 9/11–when his father was laid off from his job and his mother, a teacher, was subjected to verbal abuse because she wore a hijab–helped motivate him to to push for changes that would reflect the city’s changing demographics and ensure that all residents were represented.
As a Board of Education member, he successfully lobbied for Eid to become a school holiday and gained approval for halal school lunches. He also helped balance a budget deficit of over $70 million.
During his tenure, Ali juggled college and his work with the school board. He won two of the most prestigious scholarships in higher education, becoming both a Schwarzman Scholar and a Truman Scholar.
After graduating from Rutgers-Newark, Ali got a degree from Harvard Law School and won a Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship, which honors immigrants and children of immigrants by recognizing those who are poised to make significant contributions to American society.
A diagnosis of lymphoma slowed him down in 2021, but after undergoing treatment, he is now in remission.
He is proud of the fact that he rejected more lucrative careers to pursue public service in his hometown.
“I had this opportunity to go to Wall Street and make a lot of money but I chose this,’’ he said. “People here watched me grow up and go off to law school and come back. I want the
opportunity to serve and I hope the residents will give me that opportunity.’’
