On July 3rd, the Board of Elections is set to start counting approximately 6,000 absentee ballots and affidavits in order to officially announce a Democratic winner in the Queens District Attorney primary race.
Currently, the presumptive winner is Tiffany Cabán, a public defender who ran a grassroots campaign without taking corporate or real estate money.
She garnered 39.6 percent of the votes from 85,389 ballots after 99 percent of precincts were calculated giving her a slim 1.3 percent margin over the Queens County Democratic backed candidate Borough President Melinda Katz, according to unofficial results from NY1.
Cabán also beat out former Judge Greg Lasak, who had 12,377 ballots and support from police unions, the Queens Bar Association, and several law firms.
While she might have the slimmest of leads, it is very unlikely that all the uncounted votes will be going towards Katz who refused to concede the district attorney role in what was a seven-way race before Councilman Rory Lancman (D-Hillcrest) dropped out in the 11th hour. However, there’s a possibility that Cabán might be facing some of her former opponents come November in the general election.
Immediately after the public defender’s virtual win, there have been rumors swirling around social media as to whether the Queens GOP will push out lawyer Daniel Kogan as their Republican nominee and instead put forward Katz or Lasak to go up against Cabán out of fear of her far-left radical ideas to transform the Queens District Attorney’s Office.
Katz, however, is standing firm with the Queens Democratic Party, according a June 2 statement.
“All votes must be counted in the Democratic Primary for Queens District Attorney, but regardless of outcome, I have declined the Republican Party nomination for Queens District Attorney. I believe in Democratic principles and they have led my career,” said Katz.
Lasak, however, was not available for comment and the Queens Village Republican Club has refused to issue a statement.
Councilman Robert Holden (D-Middle Village), a conservative Democrat that switched to the Republican ticket after narrowly losing to former Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley (D-Middle Village) in the Democratic primary last year and later besting her in the general, doesn’t think that Katz or Lasak switching sides is a bad idea as long Cabán doesn’t get the opportunity to fundamentally change the DA’s Office with her policies.
“Tiffany Cabán is inexperienced, short-sighted and many of her views may pose a serious threat to public safety in the borough of Queens. Undoing the legacy of Judge Brown is a huge mistake and every effort must be made to stop socialist radicals like Cabán from ever wielding such power,” said Holden.
Former prosecutor Betty Lugo, a former Republican who later became a Democrat after President Donald Trump was elected into office after he made disparaging remarks about Hispanic immigrants, has been completely overlooked in the conversation about Republican alliances or third party tickets in the general election.
Lugo was at the very bottom of the seven-way turned six-way race and garnered only 921 votes for the Democratic primary, which was even less than Lancman who dropped out, but still managed to score 1,168 votes with his name still on the ballot.
Nevertheless, Lugo has been considering a run as a Libertarian, according to Marcus Miranda, a campaign staffer of hers.
