Cabán kicks off campaign for Astoria Council seat
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Tiffany Cabán is running for City Council in Astoria’s District 22. AP PHOTO/FRANK FRANKLIN II
By David Brand
Tiffany Cabán returned Thursday to the site of her August 2019 concession speech in the race for Queens District Attorney to deliver a much different announcement: She’s running again.
This time, Cabán is seeking a City Council seat in Astoria’s District 22, the position currently held by term-limited Councilmember Costa Constantinides.
Her 2021 council bid, first reported by City & State, generated immediate excitement among Western Queens leftists and other progressives who carried Cabán, a then little-known public defender, to within 60 votes of the Democratic nomination for Queens DA last year.
“From Astoria, to Rikers Island; from Jackson Heights, to Woodside, to East Elmhurst, I am running to represent every single person, in every single corner, of this district,” Cabán said.
“Together, we will end the carceral system, establish a care economy and implement a Green New Deal for New York City.”
Cabán, who received the endorsement of the Democratic Socialists of America in 2019, criticized the city’s recently enacted austerity budget in her remarks. The spending plan cut funding to various social service agencies and youth initiatives while preserving most of the money directed to the NYPD, despite some adjustments.
“The City Council failed the tests of political courage and moral clarity by protecting a bloated police budget while our hospitals and schools were being gutted and health care workers were begging for PPE,” she said.
Before her bid for Queens DA, Cabán worked as a staff attorney for New York Defender Services and Legal Aid. She grew up in Richmond Hill.
She kicked off her campaign for city council outside the bar Katch Astoria Thursday alongside State Sens. Jessica Ramos and Michael Gianaris, Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer, Democratic Assembly candidate Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas and Astoria Democratic District Leaders Zachariah Boyer and Shawna Morlock. Thirteen months ago, Cabán conceded to Melinda Katz in the race for DA at the same location following a drawn-out countywide recount.
Eight other Western Queens residents have filed to run in District 22, but Cabán’s entrance in the field compelled one candidate to step aside.
Youth organizer Jesse Cerrotti, another DSA member, endorsed Cabán on Thursday.
“I am choosing to suspend my city council campaign because we now have the opportunity to elect a public defender, to elect a proven fighter of criminal justice reforms and someone who has been a mentor and teacher to me during her Queens District Attorney campaign,” Cerrotti said.
The other Democratic candidates include Queens Community Board 1 members Rod Townsend and Evie Hantzopolous, Constantinides’ Chief of Staff Nick Roloson, Sunnyside Shines Executive Director Jaime Faye-Bean, Department of Education official Leonardo Bullardo and Edwin DeJesus.
Republican Felicia Kalan, a consultant who helps mothers find remote work opportunities, is also running.
Bullardo had raised the most money as of July 15, with $31,204.
