Editorial Note: At the time of publication, there are about 3,500 absentee, military, and affidavit ballots that have not been counted. Melinda Katz has not conceded yet, and she trails Tiffany Cabán by 1,199 votes.
In the Democratic Primary on Tuesday, June 25, Tiffany Cabán managed to accomplish the same thing her mentor and endorser Alexandria-Ocasio Cortez did a year before: win a primary against the establishment Democratic candidate. Also like her mentor and endorser, Cabán doesn’t have the experience, knowledge, or correct priorities to perform the job that she will soon be given. Unlike her mentor and endorser, Cabán will have a greater effect on the day-to-day lives of Queens residents.
The path to Cabán’s victory was the same as Ocasio-Cortez’s, and will be repeated over and over again in deep blue districts. The Justice Democrats, a radical left-wing group founded in 2017, has been very successful in their tactics so far. The Justice Democrats is the group behind Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and other radicals currently sitting in Congress. Their strategy is to find deep blue districts with entrenched establishment Democratic representatives, and then challenge those representatives in primaries with the most left-wing candidate possible. The Justice Democrats count on low turnout primaries to sneak their candidate onto the general election ballot, where there is no chance that a Republican can win.
This is exactly what happened with Cabán. Approximately 80,000 votes were cast out of 760,000 registered Democrats, or a 10.5 percent turnout rate. In a heavily contested election, Cabán received less than 40 percent of the total vote, but it was enough to secure the nomination. The Democrats will happily cede the soul of their party to Cabán and the Justice Democrats. “After the votes are counted, I will support, and the Democratic organization will support, the Democratic nominee,” said County Chairman, Representative Greg Meeks. “All Democrats will rally around that Democrat and be as helpful to that Democrat as possible. That’s what we do, that’s who we are as an organization.”
Like Ocasio-Cortez, Omar, and Tlaib, Cabán represents the most dangerous wing of the Democratic Party. She has essentially vowed to decriminalize marijuana, prostitution, unlicensed massage parlors, trespassing, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, loitering, unlicensed driving, drug possession, welfare fraud, turnstile jumping, and shoplifting for amounts under $250. She plans to close Rikers Island, end cash bail, prosecute less, seek shorter sentences for felonies, only charge misdemeanors when there is evidence “beyond a reasonable doubt” (as opposed to probable cause). Her only experience is as a public defender, and it is a scant seven years of experience at that. She has no experience as a prosecutor, and she is poised to become the chief prosecutor in Queens.
Part of the issue in Queens is that it is essentially one-party rule, so the Democratic primary is the only venue for voters to decide their next representative. If you are not a registered Democrat, you have no voice in representation in Queens. The Queens GOP only had one candidate; therefore, there was no need for a primary. According to The New York Post, that candidate, Daniel Kogan, may not even run, leaving the heads of the Queens GOP scrambling for a replacement. The latest rumors have the GOP looking at Judge Greg Lasak, who is considered a centrist, to take up the mantle by switching parties in order to run against Cabán in the general election in November.
Some Queens Republicans are livid at the Queens GOP’s lack of effort to produce viable candidates for District Attorney. Vickie Paladino, president of the Whitestone Republican Club and the 2018 Republican candidate for New York State Senate, isn’t hiding her displeasure. She is indignant about the fact that the Queens GOP did not put up a stronger fight during the primaries, by contrasting a strong candidate against the melee on the Democratic side. “[Queens GOP Chairwoman] Joann Ariolla-Shanks and her executive director, convicted felon John Haggerty,” Paladino said in a comment to the Queens Jewish Link, “sacrificed 2.5 million lives here in Queens to the radical left, Anti-American, anti-Jewish, anti-law-and-order Tiffany Cabán.”
Another strategy that is being implemented is having the Orthodox Jewish community register as Democrats, to prevent the Justice Democrats strategy from occurring yet again. In a video aimed at the Jewish Community in Queens, three local rabbis encouraged voters to register as Democrats. Rabbi Chaim Schwartz (Executive Director of the Vaad Harabonim of Queens), Rabbi Hayim Schwartz (Executive Vice President of Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim), and Rabbi Nahum Kaziev (Publisher of Russian magazine Druzba), refer to Cabán as someone who “is not representing our values” and “somebody who we have no access to.” The Jewish community will not be accounted for in the decision-making of a Cabán DA office. Even though they admit that “being a Democrat these days doesn’t necessarily represent the values that an Orthodox Jew stands for,” the fear is that unless you are a registered Democrat, “you have no say in local government.” The video has details of how to register as a Democrat, and a phone number of someone who will come to your house and bring a registration form.
While Republicans and moderate Democrats scramble for a way out of this predicament, many on the Democratic left are mainstreaming a figure like Cabán. Prior to the election, Cabán received endorsements from The New York Times, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren. After her win, she received glowing headlines from Politico, CNN, the New York Daily News, and many other mainstream outlets. For these outlets, Cabán is a continuation of the wild leftist and “progressive” direction they want to steer the Democratic Party, a direction that New York is wholeheartedly embracing. In the six months of one-party rule in the state, the legislature has passed an extreme abortion law, allowance for illegal immigrants to get driver’s licenses, an expensive climate change act, college tuition aid for illegal immigrants, and more restrictive gun control laws. This may be seen as victories for many on the left, but the next election will decide if the voters agree.
Tiffany Cabán is the latest symptom of this new wave of progressivism, which cares more about the color of one’s skin than the equal application of the law. She will lead a District Attorney’s office that will release criminals on a regular basis in order to stop a fictional epidemic of mass incarceration. She, and others on the left, cannot name the people who go to prison without committing crimes. She, and others on the left, cannot admit that the hard stance of the 1990s on crime created a safer New York for all, regardless of skin color. She, and others on the left, are willing to sell out the safety and security of Queens residents for the sake of being “woke.”
Unless there is a massive turnout in November’s General Election, Queens will subject herself to a lawlessness unseen for decades. Criminals will rejoice, and the innocent should lock their doors.
Moshe Hill is a political journalist who has written for The Daily Wire, the Queens Jewish Link, and the Jewish Link of New Jersey. He is regularly featured on ‘The Josh M Show’ podcast. Subscribe to aHillwithaview.com for more content from Moshe Hill. Like him on Facebook at facebook.com/ahillwithaview and follow him on Twitter @TheMoHill.