[1]Real Justice
John,
When Tiffany Cabán declared victory on election night, we thought we had
the Queens District Attorney race in the bag. She was up by 1,090 votes.
Even though paper ballots remained to be counted, her lead was deemed
insurmountable by election experts.
We were wrong. At the end of the manual recount, Melinda Katz was up by 60
votes, and the Board of Elections certified her. Today, Cabán picked up
five votes after a judge reviewed 90 uncounted ballots challenged in
court. But Justice John Ingram said he would not open affidavit ballots
where voters did not write their party affiliation, leaving Katz up by 55
votes.
We may very well have enough votes to win in those envelopes, but it seems
we will never know. And that hurts. Tonight at an event to thank her
supporters, Tiffany Cabán conceded.
As you know, I’m the co-founder of Real Justice. Our goal is to help elect
reform-minded prosecutors and district attorneys that are committed to
ending mass incarceration. And right now, I want to share a few lessons
from this race that I think will help our readers across the country.
When we decided to endorse and support Tiffany Cabán, we were told that
her race was the longest of long shots. But we made the conscious decision
to support her anyway – even though the deck was stacked against us – for
a few key reasons.
The majority of district attorneys run completely unopposed. This is a
core dysfunction of the system. Many of them have been in power for so
long that they are operating with de-facto lifetime appointments.
Queens has had a conservative white man running the DA’s office since
1991. He propped up mass incarceration at every turn. It was time for
change. And we felt it was important for us to do the hard, necessary work
of teaching voters that we have the power to change this system. So we
decided to go ahead.
Here’s a rundown on what we did together:
* Sent 284,377 text messages to potential voters in Queens – and
thousands of those people committed to vote.
* Devoted the $38,000 legal max for a campaign in Queens. We gave the
campaign nearly $10,000 in cash and spent the remainder on volunteer
recruitment, get out the vote efforts, rallies, events, and digital
efforts.
* Reached tens of millions of potential voters, donors, and volunteers
with our social media campaigns about Tiffany.
* Personally recruited endorsers – District Attorneys, prominent elected
officials, and celebrities who publicly endorsed and campaigned for
Tiffany.
* Raised $60,000 for Tiffany’s recount and to hire a top-notch lawyer.
And we recruited volunteers to make sure the recount was fair.
It was not enough. The entrenched Democratic establishment still has huge
amounts of money and power. Tiffany’s campaign helped show that it’s
possible to take on the establishment. She nearly won. But moving forward,
we have to work even harder to secure the wins we need in districts all
over the country.
Here’s some of what could’ve happened better on Tiffany’s race:
* Long-shot candidates like Tiffany need more support, sooner. One of
the biggest hurdles for radical reformers like Tiffany is getting
enough financial support early on. Those resources are required to
build critical groundwork, hire staff, recruit volunteers, and reach
voters. For our next round of races, we need to make sure we’re
well-resourced, way ahead of time.
* Organizations on the ground need to collaborate better with one
another in smart ways. Dozens of organizations, including ours, backed
Tiffany, but sometimes the left hand didn’t know what the right was
doing. We have to fix that.
* We pivoted too quickly to victory and didn’t effectively mobilize a
“count every vote” push. When it started to become clear that Katz was
leading by a small number of votes, there could’ve been a larger,
national campaign to make sure every valid vote was counted. In the
next round of races, we need to be prepared to push even after
election night.
Here’s what we accomplished (even though Tiffany didn’t ultimately win):
* We pushed Katz to take stronger stances on justice reform by building
momentum for Tiffany – issues like marijuana possession and sex work.
That will have real impacts to reduce mass incarceration in Queens if
Katz keeps her word.
* We showed the country what real justice reform can look like. We
helped build critical momentum for Tiffany and helped her ideas and
policies catch national attention. A couple years ago, hardly anyone
paid attention to district attorney races or understood how important
these positions are. Together, we’re changing the game on criminal
justice in this country.
* We sent a message that it’s possible for long-shot reformers to
challenge the political establishment. Tiffany was up against big
money and the entrenched establishment. It’s amazing that she came so
close to winning, when at the beginning everyone said she didn’t have
a chance. Her race is already inspiring more public defenders to run
for district attorney and change the system from the inside out.
Lastly, we need to remember that our opponents are extremely
well-organized and well-resourced. We have to be just as organized as they
are. And we need enough resources to compete.
Next up: we will report back on Jody Owens’ election in Jackson,
Mississippi – and we’re gearing up for more races, too. It’s going to take
all of us, but I believe we’re going to score some really important wins.
-- Shaun King
[ [link removed] ]P.S. If you are ready to make sure the next round of district attorney
races are even stronger, more resourced, and readier to take on the
political establishment than ever before, please make your best gift to
our new fund. It’s specifically for public defenders similar to Tiffany –
from the places most impacted by mass incarceration, who want to replace
the system with something radically different.
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Paid for by Real Justice PAC, realjusticepac.org, authorized by Cabán for Queens, not authorized by any other federal, state, or local candidate or candidate’s committee.
