Tiffany Cabán (born July 24, 1987) is an American attorney, politician, and political organizer who has served as a member of the New York City Council for the 22nd District since the 2021 New York City Council election. She won the Democratic primary for the seat after the incumbent, Democrat Costa Constantinides, retired. She was a candidate in the 2019 Democratic primary for Queens County's District Attorney in the

State of New York New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...

, which she narrowly lost to Queens Borough president

Melinda Katz Melinda R. Katz (born August 29, 1965) is an American attorney and politician from New York City, serving as District Attorney of Queens since January 1, 2020. A Democrat, she previously served as the Queens Borough President. Katz was also a ...

Early life and education

Cabán was born in Richmond Hill,

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

, to Puerto Rican parents: an elevator mechanic father and a children's caretaker mother; both had been raised in

NYCHA The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) is a public development corporation which provides public housing in New York City, and is the largest public housing authority in North America. Created in 1934 as the first agency of its kind in the ...

's Woodside Houses. She attended PS 62 and JHS 210 before attending

St. Francis Preparatory School , motto_translation = My God and My All , location = , streetaddress = 6100 Francis Lewis Boulevard , city = New York City (Fresh Meadows, Queens) , state = New York , ...

. She earned a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

degree from

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a public state-related land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvania. Founded in 1855 as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania, Penn State becam ...

, where she majored in studies of crime, law, and justice. Subsequently, she earned a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice l ...

degree from

New York Law School New York Law School (NYLS) is a private law school in Tribeca, New York City. NYLS has a full-time day program and a part-time evening program. NYLS's faculty includes 54 full-time and 59 adjunct professors. Notable faculty members include Ed ...

Career

Cabán was a

public defender A public defender is a lawyer appointed to represent people who otherwise cannot reasonably afford to hire a lawyer to defend themselves in a trial. Several countries provide people with public defenders, including the UK, Hungary and Singapore, ...

, who worked for New York County Defender Services and the

Legal Aid Society The Legal Aid Society is a 501(c)(3) non-profit legal aid provider based in New York City. Founded in 1876, it is the oldest and largest provider of legal aid in the United States. Its attorneys provide representation on criminal and civil ma ...

Queens District Attorney campaign

Cabán's 2019 campaign for

Queens County District Attorney The District Attorney of Queens County is the elected district attorney for Queens County in New York State, coterminous with the New York City borough of Queens. The office is responsible for the prosecution of violations of New York state laws ...

focused on

criminal justice reform Criminal justice reform addresses structural issues in criminal justice systems such as racial profiling, police brutality, overcriminalization, mass incarceration, and recidivism. Criminal justice reform can take place at any point where the crim ...

, including ending

mass incarceration Incarceration in the United States is a primary form of punishment and rehabilitation for the commission of felony and other offenses. The United States has the largest prison population in the world, and the highest per-capita incarcerati ...

and the

War on Drugs The war on drugs is a global campaign, led by the United States federal government, of drug prohibition, military aid, and military intervention, with the aim of reducing the illegal drug trade in the United States.Cockburn and St. Clair, ...

. She also called for the

decriminalization Decriminalization or decriminalisation is the reclassification in law relating to certain acts or aspects of such to the effect that they are no longer considered a crime, including the removal of criminal penalties in relation to them. This reform ...

of sex work. Cabán was endorsed by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', as well as progressive politicians such as

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (; ; born October 13, 1989), also known by her initials AOC, is an American politician and activist. She has served as the U.S. representative for New York's 14th congressional district since 2019, as a member of ...

, Bernie Sanders,

Elizabeth Warren Elizabeth Ann Warren (née Herring; born June 22, 1949) is an American politician and former law professor who is the senior United States senator from Massachusetts, serving since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party and regarded as a p ...

, and

Larry Krasner Lawrence Samuel Krasner (born March 30, 1961) is an American lawyer who is the 26th District Attorney of Philadelphia. Elected to the position in 2017, Krasner was one of the first in the United States to run as a self-described "progressive pros ...

, as well as several progressive members of the

New York State Legislature The New York State Legislature consists of the two houses that act as the state legislature of the U.S. state of New York: The New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly. The Constitution of New York does not designate an officia ...

and Suffolk County, Massachusetts DA Rachael Rollins. The race drew national attention, drawing comparisons to Ocasio-Cortez's upset victory in the 2018 House primary election over

Joe Crowley Joseph Crowley (born March 16, 1962) is an American politician and consultant who served as U.S. Representative from New York's 14th congressional district from 1999 to 2019. He was defeated by Democratic primary challenger Alexandria Ocasio ...

. Numerous progressive political organizations also endorsed her campaign, including

Citizen Action Citizen Action was a national liberal consumer and public activist group that was active in the United States during the 1980s and 1990s. State-level affiliates have continued on in Connecticut, New York, Ohio, and Wisconsin. The affiliates of Ci ...

of New York, the

Working Families Party The Working Families Party (WFP) is a minor political party in the United States, founded in New York in 1998. There are active chapters in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Ne ...

, the

Democratic Socialists of America The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is a Left-wing politics, left-wing Democratic Socialists of America#Tendencies within the DSA, multi-tendency Socialism, socialist and Labour movement, labor-oriented political organization. Its roots ...

, Make the Road, Real Justice, and other community organizations in New York. Cabán faced Queens borough president

in the Democratic primary. The previous District Attorney, Richard Brown, had intended to retire after the election, but died in office shortly before the primary. On June 25, 2019, Cabán claimed victory over Katz, but with the margin of victory standing at just over one percentage point, Katz declined to concede the election. On July 3, election officials said Katz pulled ahead in the final count with a lead of just 20 votes, triggering a recount. On August 6, days after Katz was declared the ultimate victor by 60 votes, Cabán conceded the race.

Post-election work

After her campaign for District Attorney, Cabán took on a role as a national political organizer with the

. She was focused on recruiting decarceral

ers to run for office.

New York City Council

In September 2020, Cabán announced her candidacy for the 22nd district of the New York City Council in the 2021 election. The incumbent Costa Constantinides could not seek re-election due to term limits.

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

's 22nd district covers Ditmars,

Steinway Steinway & Sons, also known as Steinway (), is a German-American piano company, founded in 1853 in Manhattan by German piano builder Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg (later known as Henry E. Steinway). The company's growth led to the opening of a f ...

Astoria, Queens Astoria is a neighborhood in the western portion of the New York City borough of Queens. Astoria is bounded by the East River and is adjacent to three other Queens neighborhoods: Long Island City to the southwest, Sunnyside to the southeast, ...

and parts of

East Elmhurst East Elmhurst is a residential neighborhood in the northwest section of the New York City borough of Queens. It is bounded to the south by Jackson Heights and Corona, to the north and east by Bowery Bay, and to the west by Woodside and Ditmar ...

. Cabán was sworn in on December 1, 2021 following her election on November 2, in order to fill the vacancy left by Constantinides' resignation. In 2022, Cabán supported a proposed rezoning to allow a 1300-unit housing development (one quarter of which was earmarked for affordable housing) on a former industrial site in her district. On May 2, 2023, Councilwoman Caban joined protesters at a

New York City Rent Guidelines Board Rent regulation in New York is a means of limiting the amount of rent charged on dwellings. Rent control and rent stabilization are two programs used in parts of New York state (and other jurisdictions). In addition to controlling rent, the system ...

meeting at the

Great Hall A great hall is the main room of a royal palace, castle or a large manor house or hall house in the Middle Ages, and continued to be built in the country houses of the 16th and early 17th centuries, although by then the family used the gre ...

Cooper Union The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (Cooper Union) is a private college at Cooper Square in New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-supported École Polytechnique in ...

at Astor Place in Manhattan to protest the proposed 16 percent rent hike on rent-stabilized apartments with two year leases. They all called for a rent rollback for all tenants living in rent-controlled and stabilized units. Tiffany was joined by fellow council members Chi Osse,

Alexa Aviles Alexa may refer to: Technology * Amazon Alexa, a virtual assistant developed by Amazon * Alexa Internet, a defunct website ranking and traffic analysis service * Arri Alexa, a digital motion picture camera People * Alexa (name), a given name ...

, Shahana Hanif, and Sandy Nurse.

Personal life

Cabán lives in

and identifies as queer.

References

External links

Campaign website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cabán, Tiffany 1987 births 21st-century American women politicians 21st-century American politicians Puerto Rican people in New York (state) politics American politicians of Puerto Rican descent Hispanic and Latino American politicians Hispanic and Latino American women in politics American women lawyers Lawyers from New York City LGBT Hispanic and Latino American people LGBT people from New York (state) Living people Members of the Democratic Socialists of America from New York (state) New York (state) socialists New York (state) Democrats People from Queens, New York Queer women Prison abolitionists Police abolitionists American LGBT city council members Women New York City Council members New York City Council members Public defenders