Tiffany Cabán Joins Queens City Council Race
Out queer former DA candidate aims to succeed Costa Constantinides as city lawmaker
BY MATT TRACY
One year after out queer
public defender Tiffany
Cabán suffered a
heartbreaking loss in
the Democratic primary race for
Queens district attorney, she is
setting her sights on the soon-tobe
vacant City Council seat currently
occupied by term-limited
lawmaker Costa Constantinides.
Echoing many of the same
themes that nearly propelled her
to victory last year, Cabán huddled
alongside her allies outside the
Katch Astoria gastropub September
10 as she formally announced
her campaign for City Council’s
District 22 in 2021.
“I am running because this is
where the work is,” Cabán, who has
most recently worked as a national
political organizer for the Working
Families Party, said in a written
Out queer City Council candidate Tiffany Cabán is returning to the campaign trail one year after a narrow
loss in last year’s race for Queens district attorney.
statement. “I’m running for City
Council because I love this community.
From Astoria to Rikers Island,
from Jackson Heights to Woodside,
REUTERS/ JEENAH MOON
to East Elmhurst, I am running to
represent every single person, in
every single corner, of this district.
I love the people who live here, and
POLITICS
I believe that change is possible.
Together, we will end the carceral
system, establish a care economy,
and implement a Green New Deal
for New York City.”
Caban’s campaign website calls
for reallocating police funding to
social services, halting new jail
construction, desegregating city
schools, implementing a Green
New Deal for the city, and more.
Cabán emerged as a long-shot
candidate during her Queens DA
campaign, but eventually caught
fi re and rose to prominence as a
progressive alternative to then-
Borough President Melinda Katz.
Cabán strayed from the typical
tough-on-crime stances expected
from many DA candidates, instead
becoming a key backer of
the movement to fully decriminalize
sex work and an advocate for
➤ TIFFANY CABÁN, continued on p.19
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