Just hours after she declared herself the winner in the Democratic primary for Queens district attorney Tuesday, Tiffany Cabán was greeting voters near her local subway stop in Astoria on Wednesday.
The votes are still being counted, but with over a one thousand vote lead over Queens Borough President Melinda Katz, Cabán says she's confident she will hold on.
"I've spoken to my team and again, we recognize that the margins will be close, but we feel confident that the decision is not going to be reversed," Cabán told reporters.
Thousands of scanners made their way back to a storage facility in Middle Village, where Board of Elections workers will begin the official certification process. Each scanner is equipped with a thumb drive that records the numbers. A second set of data will be downloaded Thursday to confirm the final results.
Cabán's supporters, including Queens Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer, were keeping an eye on the process.
"Obviously we know that the machine has many tentacles and deep connections, and while the young people that made this victory possible are great at knocking on doors — incredibly good at talking to voters — they may be less knowledgeable about this process," Van Bramer said.
Board of Elections officials said there are 6,337 ballots to be counted. More than half of them are Democratic absentee ballots. The rest are affidavit votes that are still being sorted. That process begins next week.
Luke Hayes, Cabán's campaign manager, says they are confident they will be successful in their win.
"We feel confident that our margin of victory won't change much, and last night we sent a powerful message to Queens and to the city and to the country about what a new vision for fair and equal justice for all really looks like," Hayes said.
The election results have sent shock waves through the city's political establishment and garnered the 31-year-old public defender national headlines.
Implementing her ambitious progressive agenda would be transformative for the borough.
Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, who endorsed Cabán's campaign, tweeted about her win. Mayor Bill de Blasio, who did not endorse a candidate, also took to social media, calling the race a "hard-fought progressive" win.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who backed Katz, downplayed Cabán's likely election, pointing to dismal turnout numbers.
"Yeah, change has an appeal," Cuomo said, airquoting the word "change." "But it's going to depend on who votes."
Katz was not speaking to the press Wednesday. But speaking to supporters on Primary Night, she said she'll wait until every vote is accounted for.
"We want to make sure that all the constituents and the votes are counted, and we'll see what happens after that," Katz said.
Cabán will have to wait days to see if she is declared the official winner in this race. Board of Election officials said absentee ballots will not be counted until next week.
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