Mr. Bhalla, the child of Indian immigrants who was born and raised in New Jersey, said that his victory was because of his stance on the issues: pushing for more open space, holding the line on taxes, and working to solve the flooding problem, particularly after the devastation of Hurricane Sandy five years ago.

It certainly wasn’t because of a Sikh voting block. There is only a tiny Sikh community in Hoboken of about 15-20 families, he said, including his brother, whose family lives next door to Mr. Bhalla. (The Bhallas live on the same street where Frank Sinatra grew up as a teenager.) Mr. Bhalla and his wife have two children, ages 5 and 10, who attend a local charter school.

While Mr. Bhalla, who is a lawyer, was humble in talking about his victory, it has resonated well behind Hoboken. His campaign was covered by newspapers as far away as India. And his victory brought a surge of joy on social media from some of the approximately 500,000 Sikhs in America.

Sikhs, who largely hail from the Punjab region of modern-day India and Pakistan, have lived in America for about a century. In that time, they have often felt frustrated because they are “constantly perceived as people that they are not,” said Simran Jeet Singh, senior religion fellow at the Sikh Coalition, a civil rights organization based in New York City.

Still, Sikhs have risen in public life, particularly in Canada, where the current defense minister is Sikh. In the United States, there have been at least two Sikh mayors in recent years, according to the Sikh Coalition. In 2009, Kashmir Gill was elected mayor of Yuba City, Calif., but he did not wear a turban. In 2012 and again in 2014, Satyendra Huja, who wears a turban, was selected by the Charlottesville, Va., City Council to be mayor.