Tiffany Cabán Wins Astoria's City Council Race

ASTORIA, QUEENS — Tiffany Cabán has won the Democratic primary for City Council in Astoria's District 22, according to the latest voting results, which show her with an insurmountable lead over her closest rival, Evie Hantzopoulos.

Cabán, who declared victory on election night after securing just under 50 percent of first-choice, in-person votes, was left with a 3,226-vote lead over Hantzopoulos on Friday night after the latest ranked-choice vote count was tabulated.

Cabán's win was further solidified on Tuesday, after ranked-choice results and a preliminary absentee ballot count were calculated and increased her lead by 400-votes — a point that Hantzopoulos acknowledged well before when she congratulated Cabán on her victory on Saturday morning.

In a much longer statement tweeted Saturday night, Hantzopoulos wished Cabán "all the best" adding "we share progressive values and I want to see our city bend towards equity and justice as we rebuilt after this pandemic."

Hantzopoulos also praised her own campaign's work, noting that her team and wide coalition of volunteers ran a grassroots campaign that garnered a strong show of in-district support — likely alluding to the money they raised from District 22 donors, which outpaced the other seven people running for the Astoria council seat.

While Cabán thanked Hantzopoulos for her support on Saturday, she didn't comment any further on this weekend's newly released vote count, having already declared victory two weeks ago.

"Tonight, our movement won. What we did here tonight is a mandate. We have made it clear that the political will is there and we are ready to fight unapologetically and urgently for the communities we deserve," said Cabán in a written victory statement sent out on election night.

The Astoria city council seat win is Cabán's first successful bid at an elected position in the borough — in 2019 the public defender and national political organizer narrowly lost the 2019 Queens District Attorney race.

The win is also part of a larger effort to elect left-leaning Democrats to the city's local government, specifically including socialist candidates.

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 was one of a handful of City Council candidates citywide to be endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America, a group that has already supported other local elected officials in Astoria, namely U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani (D-NY).

In an interview released a day before Friday's ranked-choice tabulations, Mamdani told Jacobin, a socialist publication, that the "electoral socialist project" in New York is "strong" citing Cabán's victory as "a testament to the power of the project."

Cabán will be heavily favored in November's general election, where she will face one Republican and one Independent candidate. Assuming she wins, she will take office in December — one month before other newly minted officials take office, since she will be succeeding City Council Member Costa Constantinides, who resigned from the District 22 seat in April and has left the seat vacant since then.

This race, like all in the June primaries, won't be officially certified by the Board of Elections until at least July 12.