What you need to know about
the upcoming election cycle
Tiffany Cabán’s near-upset in last year’s Democratic primary for Queens District Attorney emboldened many young progressives to challenge the party establishment in
2020. Photo by Mark Hallum
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.COM | JAN. 3-JAN. 9, 2020 15
BY BILL PARRY
The 2020 elections will let
voters know if the drift towards
the left wing progressives
continues in Queens,
particularly in the western
portion of the borough, and if
the events of the last two election
cycles represent a fluke or
a tectonic shift in politics in
the borough.
With the entire state legislature
facing re-election, the
polls next year will serve as
a rorschach test for which direction
the borough is moving
politically.
The shift to the left began
with Congresswoman Alexander
Ocasio-Cortez’s stunning
primary upset of Democratic
boss Joe Crowley which gave
new energy to progressive
organizations such as the
Working Families Party and
the Democratic Socialists of
America in Queens. The organizations
coalesced around
the mission of defeating the
so-called Queens Machine,
and that led to a near upset by
public defender Tiffany Cabán
against the “establishment
candidate,” Queens Borough
President Melinda Katz who
eventually won the Democratic
primary for Queens District
Attorney by only 55 votes after
a six-week recount.
Cabán’s radical decarceral
platform became a national
story and earned her the endorsements
of presidential
candidates, Elizabeth Warren
and Bernie Sanders. But it
may have awakened a sleeping
giant at the same time, the
rest of the Democratic party
in Queens that year after year
had low voter turnout because
so many candidates were left
unchallenged on primary
ballots and many times unopposed
by Republicans in the
general election.
Many other Democrats in
other areas of the borough
grew alarmed at the progressive
victories, primarily when
it came to criminal justice reforms
in the state legislature.
This is what makes the 2020
cycle so interesting to watch
as Democratic incumbents are
facing primary challenges,
some for the first time, from
candidates who claim to be
more progressive.
Assemblywoman Catherine
Nolan, Assemblyman Michael
DenDekker and Assemblywoman
Aravella Simotas are
all facing primary challenges
from the progressives.
State Senator Michael Gianaris,
the Deputy Majority
Leader, who played a central
role in flipping the Senate from
Republican control last year, is
facing two challengers in the
Democratic primary for a very
different reason. Jusitn Potter
on Long Island City and Iggy
Terranova of Astoria were so
outraged by Gianaris’ stand
against Amazon’s plan to build
an HQ2 campus along the East
River waterfront in Long Island
City that they launched
campaigns to defeat him.
Gianaris became such a central
figure in the groundswell
of opposition against the ecommerce
giant that he became
known as the “Amazon Slayer”
who saw the nearly $3 billion
the state and city were offering
in the deal as corporate welfare
wasting money that should be
used on schools, transportation,
housing and infrastructure.
Terranova and Potter blame
Gianaris for the loss of 25,000
good-paying jobs that Amazon
promised over 10 years, with a
plan to grow to 40,000 over 15
years.
With all of the drama that is
set to play out in 2020, it will be
the undercard to the following
year when 2021 will usher in a
sea change in leadership in the
City Council. In Queens, 11 out
of 15 City Council districts will
have open contests because
term limits prevent the incumbent
from seeking re-election.
The 2020 election cycle
should serve as a barometer as
to which direction Queens is
headed.
2020 PREVIEW
Michael Gianaris will face two
challengers in the Democratic
primary. QNS fi le photo
/QNS.COM
