Tiffany Cabán has not only enlisted the help of a veteran to the 2012 Obama campaign, but the Queens district attorney candidate has also scooped up access to a listserv used to reach individuals in Nevada at the time of the election that year.
According to an email obtained by QNS, the listserv is state-specific and there may be hundreds of people on said roster, but that does not rule out email caches for other states being used to levy contributions.
As per the email, Cabán has brought onto her team Luke Hayes, brother to MSNBC’s Chris Hayes and formerly Barack Obama’s Nevada state director from his re-election campaign.
“This would be bigger than Krasner winning in Philly – Queens has 2.3 million [residents]. Imagine if the AG for Nevada ran on the platform below,” Hayes wrote in the email.
Addressed to the Google group “OFA-NV Staff 2012 Alumni,” Hayes’ email hashes out Cabán’s platform in a series of bullet-points.
The strategy could mark a turnaround for the Cabán campaign, which according to January filings with the state Board of Elections, had failed to raise over $1,000. The next deadline for campaign disclosures is May 24 and there is no current data with BOE to indicate where Cabán’s camp currently stands financially.
As state director, Hayes likely had access to the listservs of other states, an anonymous source told QNS.
Hayes aided now-state Senator Alessandra Biaggi sail to victory over Independent Democratic Committee leader Jeff Klein in 2018.
According to a report from THE CITY, Cabán’s campaign has possibly been in throes of hemorrhaging funds for months now, with former workers telling the news nonprofit they had yet to be paid.
The Cabán campaign claimed the only reason why those employees had not receive pay was because they could not be contacted.
THE CITY’s report also chronicled a revolving door in the campaign’s management with Martha Ayon and Virginia Ramos Rios, who helped Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez overthrow incumbent Joe Crowley, going their separate ways.
Cabán has been locking down progressive support from organizations such as the Democratic Socialists of America, Working Families Party, No IDC NY as well as Linda Sarsour.
With the DSA’s Queens chapter initially endorsing Cabán, the national organization has followed suit.
“A win for Tiffany can mean an end to the double standard of targeting communities of color and working people while ignoring abusive landlords and employers who steal wages from their employees,” Devin McManus from the DSA’s national electoral committee said.
Meanwhile, Cabán has been making waves in the conversation surrounding the closure of Rikers Island with her stance against the construction of new jails of any kind.
Cabán faces Mina Malik, Borough President Melinda Katz, Councilman Rory Lancman, prosecutors Betty Lugo and Jose Nieves, as well as retired judge Gregory Lasak in the June 25 primary.
