The revolution that wasn’t

Back at the end of June, when it looked like unseasoned public defender Tiffany Cabán had knocked off Queens Borough President Melinda Katz in the Democratic primary for Queens district attorney, the pundit class — uber-progressives, especially — were breathless.

The far-left insurgency begun by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez had spread from one district to the whole borough, the story went. Prostitution would be decriminalized. So would many other offenses. No incumbent was safe.

A few weeks and one recount later, Katz, the safe party pick, is the Democratic nominee.

Just as we had big reservations about Cabán, who just turned 32, we have them about Katz, who’ll soon be 54. She has zero courtroom experience. In an endorsement interview with us, she was hazy on the details of New York State’s bail reform law. To do the job, she’s going to have to lean

heavily on seasoned prosecutors.

But the bigger story here is that, while Cabán exceeded expectations and encouraged future criminal justice reformers to run, most New Yorkers still aren’t ready for her brand of prosecutor. And there’s no hard electoral evidence that the AOC revolution, such as it is, is gaining steam.

In the primary, 90,540 people cast ballots; that’s less than 12% of the borough’s total active Democratic voters. Of those who did, Katz won 38.6% of that total, Cabán 38.5%.

Put another way, people who weren’t Cabán — people who thought the public defender’s reforms were too rash or risky or radical — took 61.5% of the vote.

Put another way still, the public defender netted 34,860 of 766,117 active registered Democrats in the borough, which works out to 4.6%.

True, Katz did just a sliver better. But let no one pretend that the people of Queens have given their stamp of approval to a drastic criminal justice reform agenda.