Singh, a Burlington Township resident and former BOE member, is determined to make the best of his time on the Burlington County Board of Chosen Freeholders
Balvir Singh, by all accounts, was not expected to win the November race for two contested seats on the Burlington County Board of Chosen Freeholders. With little political experience and the odds stacked against him as a Democrat running against two seasoned Republicans who boasted strong name recognition and years of service on the board, Singh and running mate Tom Pullion’s disadvantage was not helped by their lean campaign budget.
But on Jan. 3, Singh, with his wife and two children by his side, was sworn into his hard-fought seat, becoming the first Sikh person to assume a countywide role in New Jersey and the first Asian American to sit on the BCBCF.
“It was a lot of knocking on doors and traveling on foot all around the county. We certainly felt the heat over the summer,” Singh said.
Making state history is a point of pride for Singh, who stepped down in December from his position on the Burlington Township Board of Education, but the road to lay claim to those “firsts” was not without its potholes.
Aside from being a relatively inexperienced Democrat running for a position on a historically Republican board, Singh said his faith, ethnicity and personal background were at times used against him. On the Burlington County Republican Committee’s Facebook page, one can still find comments from residents lobbing racial slurs, as well as several disingenuous ads from his opponents’ campaign that provide a peek into what Singh was up against. One ad claims Singh, who immigrated to Burlington City as a teenager after growing up in a one-bedroom apartment in India, would harbor “illegal immigrants” in the county, an impossibility given that immigration falls within the sheriff’s jurisdiction.
“That was pretty disheartening,” he said.
But with the campaign behind him, his focus now lies in working with his fellow board members to serve the residents of Burlington County to the best of his ability.
On top of being a husband, a father to two small children (and now a newborn as of Jan. 25) and a full-time math teacher at Burlington City High School, where he graduated from and has worked for the past 11 years, the additional responsibilities of a freeholder are no small consideration. Singh was appointed to oversee the courts, the health department and the medical examiner’s office, a challenge he has met by committing everything there is to know about their services to memory and meeting regularly with department heads.
“If someone comes to me with a question, I want to be able to answer it,” he said. “I feel I owe it to taxpayers to be as informed as I can possibly be — they elected us to ask questions. I want to know where all the departments are, and I want to hear directly from the people to make sure they know that they can reach me directly when they need something.”
The county’s opioid problem and traffic issues along Route 130 are more than just talking points to Singh, who says heroin abuse has been a crisis in Burlington since his teenage years, long before it became a political and public health priority across the nation. Though his work is cut out for him on 3–2 Republican board, he hopes to work with his fellow freeholders to lessen emphasis on attracting warehouses such as Amazon and make strides toward attracting a more skilled, well-paid workforce in a state that has experienced significant departure from its populous in recent years. While bringing in new business is a priority, Singh said diversifying employment opportunities and in the county also deserves a spot on the agenda.
Singh, along with Pullion and their fellow party members, are also optimistic about another potential historical milestone ahead of November. With local elections across the country seeing significant gains for Democrats even in traditionally Republican regions, Singh said he’s confident a new majority will come to the Burlington County BCBCF for the first time in three decades.
“Whomever the candidates may be, we have to make sure we stick to the ground and keep in touch with the people,” he said. “We don’t need to do polling to see what the issues are in the county. Knock on a few doors, listen, and you’ll know all the things people are concerned about.”
