Queens DA Primary Not Decided Quite Yet As Cabán Declares Victory And Katz Doesn't Concede

Tiffany Cabán and supporters on Primary night

Thirty-one year-old political newcomer Tiffany Cabán appeared to win the Democratic nomination for Queens District Attorney, in a tight race against five other candidates including Borough President Melinda Katz.

With about 98.5 percent of the scanners counted, the race was officially too close to call. Cabán was ahead by less than 1,100 votes—with 39.57 percent of the tally compared to Katz’s 38.3 percent. The New York City Board of Elections said more than 3,000 paper absentee ballots won’t be tallied until July 3rd.

Katz said she would wait for the final count before conceding defeat. “God willing, I will come out on top,” she said. But Cabán wasn’t waiting.

“When we started this thing they said I was too young,” she told a crowd of supporters chanting “people power” at a Latin dance club in Woodside. “They said I didn’t look like a district attorney. They said we could not build a movement from the grass roots. They said we could not win. But we did it, y’all.”

The race was about the future of the DA’s office after more than 27 years of leadership by Richard Brown, who died last month after deciding not to seek another term. Although other DA’s softened their approach to quality of life offenses like fare beating and marijuana possession, Brown remained more of a law-and-order prosecutor.

Cabán was backed by a grass roots network of progressives who sought to capture the same momentum for change that propelled another unknown candidate: Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Cabán, a public defender in Manhattan, campaigned as a “queer Latina” who wanted to redefine the role of prosecutor by focusing on the causes of crime and seeking to support offenders rather than simply send them to jail.

In addition to her backing from the local Democratic Socialists of America and the Working Families Party, Cabán was endorsed by the New York Times and drew high profile supporters including Ocasio-Cortez and presidential contenders Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, as well as former gubernatorial candidate and actress Cynthia Nixon. She had far more contributors than any of her opponents, though most of the money she raised came from outside Queens.

But this star power rankled Queens Congressman Gregory Meeks, who became the county’s new Democratic party leader after Congressman Joseph Crowley’s defeat last June by Ocasio-Cortez. Meeks criticized Sanders and Warren for getting into a local race without consulting African-American voters, noting many black elected officials supported Katz.

Queens Borough President Melinda Katz speaking with reporters while campaigning on Primary day (Seth Wenig/AP/Shutterstock)

Tuesday’s results, though still too close to call, provided another scare to the Democratic machine that lost to Ocasio-Cortez. Katz addressed her supporters in Forest Hills Tuesday night with Meeks by her side, refusing to concede and stating that she was proud of Queens and all of its constituencies.

“At the end of the day I’ve always maintained and I continue to maintain this, ladies and gentlemen, is a serious job,” she said, of the DA’s position. She said it’s about how to “keep our families safe while instituting true criminal justice reform in the borough of Queens.”

Despite representing Queens as a state assemblywoman, city councilwoman and borough president, Katz didn’t sell her vision for DA as well as she hoped.

Zachary Miller, 30, said he was campaigning in St. Albans for Cabán and met many African American voters like himself who rejected the argument that Katz should become DA just because she knew the community better. “Katz has been around forever and everyone knows her,” he said. “They didn’t understand why she’s running for this. This is just a job for her.”

Despite the narrow race, some weren’t willing to write off the Queens machine. Queens state assemblyman Andrew Hevesi, who supported Katz, attributed the election results to President Trump’s policies, which have engaged more people in the political process. “The Queens Democratic Party will adjust to this new calculus, and keep our borough unified.”

Just about 85,000 Democrats voted, for a 10.4 percent voter turnout, giving an edge to candidates with the most enthusiastic supporters. According to unofficial results from the NYC Board of Elections, the vote appeared to break down along geographic lines, with western Queens support for Cabán while Katz's strength was in eastern Queens.

Former judge and assistant Queens DA Gregory Lasak drew less than 15 percent of the vote, despite having endorsements from the New York Post, the New York Daily News and many law enforcement unions. Mina Malik, Jose Nieves and Betty Lugo each got between 1 and 3.9 percent of the vote.

Cabán, who campaigned for ending cash bail completely, pledged not to prosecute low-level offenses, and also called for legalizing sex work, said she knew she faced obstacles in becoming DA.

“We will need to build bridges with communities that have understandably been distrustful of the DA’s office. We will need to build relationships with people who have been distrustful of our vision. Nothing is more important to me than the safety of all people who call this borough home.”

There is one Republican running in the November general election, lawyer Daniel Kogan.

Beth Fertig is a senior reporter covering courts and legal affairs at WNYC. You can follow her on Twitter at @bethfertig.