Who’s backing whom in a rare competitive race for district attorney.

When Queens District Attorney Richard Brown died May 3 after almost three decades in office, a number of legal-minded Queensites were already in thick of a race to replace him. All seven Democrats running in the primary are pushing for progressive reforms, to one degree or another. So the endorsements of political organizations, labor unions and elected officials are sure to help signal to voters what kind of candidate they’ll be casting their ballot for on Tuesday, June 25.

One of the strongest signals: the endorsement of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The democratic socialist who has represented part of Queens in Congress since January announced on May 22 that she is endorsing Tiffany Cabán in the race. It’s just Ocasio-Cortez’s second political endorsement since taking office, and Cabán’s success or failure in June will speak to the high-profile congresswoman’s impact in her own city.

But the quantity of endorsements seems to matter as well, and Queens Borough President Melinda Katz is leading by that criterion. State Attorney General Letitia James and New York City Public Advocate-elect Jumaane Williams both had the most major endorsements in their most recent winning campaigns. Time will tell if influential backers will play the same role for Queens district attorney, likely the single most competitive race in New York City this summer. And with Queens’ overwhelming Democratic enrollment advantage, the winner of the primary is essentially guaranteed to win office in November.

We scoured press releases, social media and candidates’ websites to compile the list of endorsements, which is accurate as of May 22.

TIFFANY CABÁN
Organizations: 504 Democratic Club, Amplify Her NYC, Citizen Action, Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club, Make the Road Action, National Association of Social Workers New York City Chapter, National Democratic Socialists of America, New Queens Democrats, New Visions Democratic Club, New York Progressive Action Network, No IDC NY, NYC Democratic Socialists of America, One Queens Indivisible, Our Progressive Future, Our Revolution, People for Bernie, Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Queens United Independent Progressives, Real Justice PAC, Red Canary Song, Rockaway Revolution, VOCAL New York Action, Working Families Party

Public figures: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, State. Sens. Jessica Ramos, Gustavo Rivera, Julia Salazar and Luis Sepúlveda, New York City Council members Brad Lander, Jimmy Van Bramer, activists Cynthia Nixon, Linda Sarsour and Zephyr Teachout, Assemblywoman Yuh-line Niou