The DSA Beckford Canvasser and the 98-Year-Old Man

Around 4 p.m. on Thursday, June 5, a 98-year-old man walked into the lobby of a building on Maple Street and Rogers Avenue in Prospect Lefferts Gardens. Tashara Abel, 27, was already there, stuffing campaign flyers into mailboxes. The flyers were for Anthony Beckford, the Democratic Socialists of America member who serves as district leader for the 43rd Assembly District and is running for reelection in the June 23 primary. What happened next, according to police, was that Abel punched the man repeatedly, kicked him, hit him with a broomstick, and hit him with a metal chair. He was treated for minor head injuries at the scene. He declined to go to the hospital.

Abel was arrested Friday. She faces three counts of assault, burglary, and criminal possession of a weapon. She has no prior arrests, according to a police source. Her arraignment was pending Saturday.

"While volunteers may operate independently, anyone associated with my campaign is expected to conduct themselves with respect and professionalism at all times."

Beckford issued a statement. "I am currently reviewing the situation to better understand the full circumstances," it reads, "and I have personally reached out to the voter involved to ensure he is doing well and has the support he needs." The statement, shared with CBS NY, continues: "While volunteers may operate independently, anyone associated with my campaign is expected to conduct themselves with respect and professionalism at all times, and if it is determined that an individual connected to my campaign acted inappropriately, appropriate action will be taken." He said the campaign would "remain prepared to cooperate with the appropriate authorities as needed."

The candidate

Beckford has run for office in Brooklyn more or less continuously since 2017. He ran for City Council District 45 in 2017, 2019, and 2021, losing all three times to Councilmember Farah Louis. He lost a State Assembly race in 2018. He won a Kings County Democratic State Committee seat in the June 2024 primary. He is currently the 3rd Vice Chair of the Kings County Democratic County Committee, president of Black Lives Matter Brooklyn, and head of the Brooklyn sector of Copwatch Patrol Unit, a group that films police interactions. His district covers Flatbush, Crown Heights, Prospect Lefferts Gardens, and parts of East Flatbush. The district leader position is unpaid.

As a DSA member, Beckford sits inside the broader infrastructure of socialist-aligned politics that has shaped Brooklyn's Democratic machine over the past several years. That infrastructure delivered Zohran Mamdani the Democratic mayoral nomination last month. Beckford's own June 23 race is lower-stakes, an intra-party contest in a district that isn't going anywhere but left, but it is the kind of local seat that shapes who gets to staff polling sites, conduct voter outreach, and, importantly, select candidates for judgeships.

What the statement doesn't say

The Beckford statement does several things at once. It positions Abel as a freelance volunteer, using the phrase "volunteers may operate independently" to create distance between the campaign and the arrest. It declines to confirm or deny that Abel was dispatched by the campaign, or whether she was compensated in any form. It expresses concern for the victim while stopping short of condemning the violence directly. And it announces cooperation with authorities as a forward-looking pledge rather than an accomplished fact, which is curious given that Abel was already in custody by the time the statement was released.

A 98-year-old man was beaten with a broomstick in a residential lobby in Prospect Lefferts Gardens during a political canvassing operation 17 days before a primary election. The person who beat him was there because of that primary. The candidate is reviewing the situation.

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