Queens voters think outside the box in race for district attorney
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Darth Vader, Peter Parker, Bob Dylan and Tiffany Cabán all received write-in votes during the Democratic primary election for Queens district attorney. Photos via Star Wars/Ron Riccio/Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia Commons/Emil Cohen for the NYC Council Media Unit
By Ryan Schwach
Darth Vader for Queens district attorney? Perhaps Peter Parker?
Not all of the 64,000 Queens voters who cast a ballot in the recent Democratic primary race for Queens district attorney bubbled in a vote for incumbent DA Melinda Katz or challengers George Grasso or Devian Daniels. Instead, a small portion of the Queens electorate chose to write-in a candidate for the borough’s top prosecutor.
Still impressed perhaps by his Gettysburg Address, one Queens voter cast a ballot for Abraham Lincoln in last month’s DA’s race.
Similarly, “The Times They Are A-Changin’” appeared to resonate with one voter who cast a ballot for Bob Dylan. Musical legend Dolly Parton also picked up a vote.
At least two Queens voters hoped that the hometown New York Mets would have better luck in the voting booth than in the batter’s box this season, with slugger Pete Alonso and outfielder Mark Canha both getting votes.
As a Queens resident, Peter Parker, the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, actually qualified for the DA’s race. He got a vote.
One Queens voter thought Harvey Dent’s experience as Gotham’s district attorney would translate well over to Queens’ streets.
Of course, some voters took their ballot as a chance to take more of a political stance for who they’d prefer to see as Queens district Attorney.
Noted Queens man Donald Trump received four votes for district Attorney, and former mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa got a vote, as well. Embattled Congressman George Santos also got a single vote.
Queens electeds Catalina Cruz, Francisco Moya, Joseph Addabbo, Sandra Ung and Michael Gianaris all got a single vote.
Councilmember Tiffany Cabán, who came within 50 votes of winning the race for DA in 2019 against Katz, technically came in fourth place this time around, receiving 52 write-in votes for Queens district attorney.
