Astoria District 22 Council Race: Cabán vs. GOP Nominee Kalan

ASTORIA, QUEENS — When voters in Astoria cast ballots in the general election they will see three names on the ballot for the 22nd District City Council seat, which represents Astoria and Rikers Island as well as parts of Jackson Heights, Woodside and East Elmhurst.

One is Tiffany Cabán, a public defender and national political organizer who beat a field of five other Democrats this summer, becoming the party's nominee to succeed Council Member Costa Constantinides, who resigned from the seat in April. Her Republican opponent is Felicia Kalan, the sole candidate who ran as a Republican in the district. Edwin DeJesus is running on the Green party line, too.

Cabán will be heavily favored in the Nov. 2 general election given the district's blue electorate; a trend in most of New York City.

Her path to public office, however, has not been uncontested; in 2019 Cabán narrowly lost the Queens District Attorney race. Then, in the City Council primary, she came up against longtime district leader Evie Hantzopoulos, whose campaign garnered significant community support, Patch reported.

But, with many eyeing Astoria as the epicenter of the borough's — and the city's — increasingly ascendent left, the District 22 race attracted some major endorsements from progressive leaders and organizations — most of which were in support of Cabán.

Cabán told Patch that her coalition separated her from other candidates in the race: "We have built one of the broadest, most diverse coalitions of any City Council campaign in the City," she wrote.

"That is because our movement sees this as a generational opportunity for fundamental change," she added, noting that one of the changes she'd most like to see in the district is a move towards "budget justice" and a "care economy," meaning investments in working families, especially those that are systemically disenfranchised, over wealthy people, large corporations, and systems of policing and incarceration.

Kalan, by contrast, believes that policing is the best way to move towards public safety in the neighborhood. "We can't build back better if families are scared and businesses refuse to do business. We need policing for the people rooted in common sense reform, compassion, and justice for victims," she told Patch.

While Cabán and DeJesus are more closely aligned on some district issues — both told Patch that they support Constantinides' legislative plan to transform Rikers Island into a hub for renewable energy sources — they sparred about public safety in a recent forum hosted by the Queens Post.

While Cabán stressed the importance in investing in evidence-based approaches, like expanding the Cure Violence program and restorative justice models, DeJesus instead wants to invest in measures that prevent poverty — an issue that he told Patch was central to his primary campaign, too.

At the forum DeJesus also criticized Cabán's suggestion of involving people who were impacted by a crime in its resolution; Cabán clapped back that restorative justice processes are voluntary, meaning all participants need to opt-in.

Early voting for the general election, which runs from Oct. 23rd through 31st, is already off to a slow start. Voters can find their poll site and view a sample ballot on the Board of Elections website.

To learn more about each candidate, read the Patch candidate profiles of Tiffany Cabán, Felicia Kalan, and Edwin DeJesus, or visit each candidate's website. (Cabán, Kalan, DeJesus.)