In a Democratic primary election for Queens District Attorney Tuesday night, Tiffany Caban, a 31 year old public defender with 7 years experience in law, narrowly edged out Melinda Katz, a former New York State Assembly member, New York City Council member, and the Queens Borough President. Both candidates shared many similar views on the responsibility of a District Attorney. Both pledged radical reforms to the DA’s office. The major differences between them was that Caban was endorsed by the radical left-wing, led by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders, and Katz was endorsed by the Democratic “establishment”, like New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. A Caban win confirms that the new center of the Democratic Party revolves around AOC.
This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone paying attention to national politics. AOC has been a force in the Democratic Party since her defeat of Joseph Crowley a year ago. The 29 year old former bartender has no actual knowledge or experience in either the private or public sector, but she spouts the Democratic Socialist rhetoric on catchy Instagram live videos better than anyone else. AOC has the uncanny ability to create a national conversation that is only rivaled by Donald Trump. The Democrats are falling in line behind her.
In the last few months alone, AOC has driven many Democratic states into passing their own version of her “Green New Deal”, a ridiculous proposal that will cost trillions and do nothing for Climate Change. She has relabeled migrant detention centers “concentration camps”, minimizing the Holocaust and disrespecting survivors. She has been on covers of magazines, spoken with world leaders like Jeremy Corbyn, and holds the most sought after endorsement for the 2020 Democratic Presidential Primary.
However, this was her first real test if her personal popularity can be extended to others. Even Barack Obama has struggled with this over the past decade. During Obama’s tenure, the Democrats lost over a thousand state and local seats to the Republicans around the country. By the end of his presidency, his brand was so toxic that by the end of 2016, Republicans had the House, the Senate and the Presidency. This is despite endorsements and campaign stops for many prominent Democrats, most notably Hillary Clinton. In 2018, only half of the candidates that Obama endorsed won, and those were in primarily blue districts. The more contested elections, like Florida and Georgia, yielded losses for the Democrats, even with Obama’s endorsements of Stacey Abrams and Andrew Gillum.
This is AOC’s first major endorsement, and it looks like she chose right. A win for Caban (which is not official as Katz is looking to count the ballots) means that AOC holds more sway than the New York State Governor. Caban was also endorsed by Cuomo’s 2018 Primary challenger Cynthia Nixon and well known antisemite and Women’s March founder LInda Sarsour.
Caban represents the most dangerous wing of the Democratic Party, as 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 to close Riker’s 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 7 years of experience at that. Assuming she will win the General Election in November in a heavily blue Queens, crime will essentially become a way of life, as long as you match the right skin color.
This is the America that AOC is pushing for, and it will lead to disastrous results. She has gone from a political anomaly to a powerhouse in a short amount of time, and there is no one in the Democratic Party with the political will or capital to take her on. It will take a generation to undo the damage that she will unleash with her failed policies and ridiculous proposals. Lets hope that by then its not too late to recover.
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