Edison Indian Americans Reshape NJ Politics With Historic Swing as Taste of Bengal Opens on Oak Tree Road
Two stories define the mood in Edison's Indian American community this season: a historic political mobilization produced a 107-point swing in the Oak Tree Road district, cementing the community's emergence as a decisive electoral force in Middlesex County and contributing to the election of New Jersey's new governor; and on that same storied corridor, Taste of Bengal opened its first New Jersey brick-and-mortar restaurant, bringing authentic Kolkata biryani and Bangladeshi street food to a dining strip that NJ Monthly now counts as home to more than 50 Indian restaurants. Together, these developments reveal a community that is both deepening its cultural roots and asserting itself in New Jersey civic life.
🗳️ Edison's Indian Voters Deliver a 107-Point Swing in the NJ Governor's Race
When New Jersey elected Mikie Sherrill as only the second woman ever to serve as governor of the state, the data behind her victory spotlighted Edison's Indian American community as a newly decisive political force. District 78 — the heart of the Indian shopping district on Oak Tree Road — swung from plus-30 for Trump in prior cycles to plus-76 for Sherrill, a 107-point shift that anchored her dominant Middlesex County performance and drew widespread attention from political analysts. Middlesex County, home to the largest concentration of Indian Americans in the United States, saw overall voter turnout rise by 13 percent compared to the 2021 governor's race, reflecting a community-wide surge in engagement that was not accidental. Sherrill's margin in the county also moved dramatically, from plus-9 for Harris in 2020 to plus-25, and she ran strongly in Union and Camden Counties as well. In Parsippany, where Indian Americans make up more than a quarter of the population, Sherrill carried the town by 27 points and helped flip Morris County. That same night, first-time Gen Z candidate Diya Patel won a seat on the Parsippany town council, marking a generational expansion of the community's footprint in local office. Much of this mobilization was attributed to Jash Gill, Sherrill's AAPI/MENA Base Vote Director, who invested in genuine relationships by visiting Indian-owned businesses and meeting with community leaders rather than treating the community as a photo opportunity. Writing in InsiderNJ, columnist Anjali Mehrotra framed the result as a turning point: for the first time, Indian American voters in New Jersey had not merely participated — they had defined the outcome. [6]
🍛 Taste of Bengal Brings Kolkata and Bangladeshi Flavors to Oak Tree Road
Taste of Bengal, an Indian and Bangladeshi restaurant brand with existing locations in Philadelphia and Charlotte, North Carolina, held its grand opening at 1528 Oak Tree Road in Edison Township on August 1 and 2, running from noon to 11 PM on both days before settling into its permanent seven-days-a-week schedule at those same hours. The Edison location is the brand's third restaurant nationwide and its first physical presence in New Jersey, a milestone for a brand that had already been building a local following through drop-off delivery service to Princeton, North Brunswick, Bridgewater, Harrison, and Edison itself — meaning a sizable base of customers already knew the food before walking through the door. The menu highlights dishes that remain genuinely scarce even on the heavily South Asian Oak Tree Road corridor: Kolkata Biryani, kachhi biryani, Mughlai paratha, Egg Chicken Roll, luchi, kochuri, and a variety of chopped cutlets draw on the distinct cooking traditions of West Bengal and Bangladesh, as distinct from the North Indian, Gujarati, and South Indian cuisines that already dominate the strip's more than 50 restaurants. The arrival represents a meaningful addition for the Bengali and Bangladeshi diaspora communities in central New Jersey, which have historically had few convenient sit-down options for home-style regional cooking, and for diners seeking a less common but richly developed South Asian food culture. Customers can also reach the restaurant on WhatsApp for drop-off inquiries. [3]
Sources: [6] Insider NJ · [3] TAPinto