Charlie Rangel on stage at Sylvia's.

"I also want to publicly thank my wife," Mr. Rangel said. "I forgot exactly what the contract was all about, it's been so long ago, but I'm certain it didn't include all of the bumps that she has gone through with me. Especially with the press that has been so hostile at times, of course, the health problems that I have had."

Mr. Rangel suggested the candidates who ran against him underestimated him due to his medical difficulties. He made it clear this was a mistake.

"I hate to disappoint my opponents for misjudging the importance of medical science when it comes to being ill," Mr. Rangel said.

His health was one of several factors that was seen as potentially weakening Mr. Rangel in this election. The redistricting process and years of demographic shifts saw Mr. Rangel's district expand from his Harlem stronghold to include portions of the Bronx and a Latino majority that seemingly favored his opponent, State Senator Adriano Espaillat, who would have become the first congressman of Latino descent if he managed to defeat Mr. Rangel.

Now, after winning this race, it is Mr. Rangel who is making history. His staff said his victory will make him the first African American congressman elected in the Bronx. In his election night speech, Mr. Rangel, who stood before a sign dubbing him "The Lion of Lenox Avenue" in Harlem, assured the audience he knows what needs to be done to serve his new constituents in the Bronx.

"Every hope and dream we've had on Lenox Avenue is the same thing they've had on Fordham Road," Mr. Rangel said.

Mr. Rangel also addressed his doubters, specifically the newspaper editorial boards who endorsed one of his rivals, Clyde Williams. He called the boards "strange people" for failing to recognize he was the best candidate in the race.

"The surprising thing is, some of the editorial boards--and I recognize they're special people--they thought otherwise even though they didn't know who was running against me," Mr. Rangel said. "When I asked them, 'Who are these people and what have they done?' They looked just mystified that you would challenge the editorial board."

Mr. Rangel finished his speech by vowing to prove to these "strange people" that he deserved to be re-elected.

"If they didn't think after 42 years that I was the best qualified, I promise them that, in the next two years, they'll have no question about the fact that you elected the best," said Mr. Rangel.

One of Charlie Rangel's flyers featuring a photo of President Barack Obama.

President Barack Obama didn't give Rep. Charlie Rangel an endorsement in today's election, but that didn't stop supporters of the longtime congressman's re-election bid from peppering Harlem with flyers featuring a huge picture of the president embracing Mr. Rangel as voters headed to the polls. The flyer describes Mr. Rangel as "a key leader in passing Obama's healthcare law."

Throughout this campaign, Mr. Rangel has both publicly and privately expressed a desire to earn the president's endorsement. However, though the president has endorsed other congressional candidates, the White House has repeatedly declined to weigh in on Mr. Rangel's race. In 2008, Mr. Rangel endorsed President Obama's opponent in the Democratic presidential primary, Hillary Clinton. Two years later, as Mr. Rangel was about to be censured for ethics violations by the House, President Obama gave an interview in which he described the ethical flap as "very troubling" and said he hoped Mr. Rangel would choose to "end his career with dignity."

Mr. Rangel's supporters in his home political club, the Martin Luther King Jr. Democrats also distributed another election day flyer featuring smaller pictures of Mr. Rangel with President Obama and with President Clinton as well as other leaders. President Clinton taped a birthday message for Mr. Rangel earlier this month, but he also hasn't given any official endorsement in the race.

Mr. Rangel isn't the only candidate in the race for whom flyers have been issued implying the support of Presidents Obama and Clinton. Campaign For Our Future, a super PAC that's supporting Mr. Rangel's rival, Clyde Williams, sent out mailers that said, "Barack Obama isn’t supporting Charlie Rangel. Why should we?,” but they also disseminated Spanish-language mailers that said "Obama and Clinton support Clyde." Another one of Mr. Rangel's opponents, Adriano Espaillat, has also used President Obama's image on his flyers.

The White House press office referred our questions about Mr. Rangel's flyer to President Obama's re-election campaign. As of this writing, the Obama campaign has not responded to multiple requests for a comment on this story.

Charlie Rangel preparing to cast a ballot for himself in Harlem. (Photo: Hunter Walker)

Charlie Rangel went to vote at P.S. 175 in Harlem this morning and, in a brief press conference afterward, the longtime congressman was dismissive of his opponents, the media and the entire possibility he might lose. Today's race is seen as potentially the toughest of the congressman's over forty years in office thanks to the changing demographics of his district. However, Mr. Rangel first replied with a joke when a reporter asked what he'd do if he loses.

"Well, if I lose tonight, I will sleep just like a baby and cry myself to sleep," he said with a smile.

After a few laughs, the Congressman followed up to say he doesn't think about losing at all.

"No, no," said Mr. Rangel. "If you have the spirit that's necessary to overcome these political obstacles and if you're fortunate enough to know that they're not obstacles that you can't overcome, than the whole attitude, 'What do I do if I lose?' never reaches that mental level. It really doesn't. I would find some way to tell you if I thought it did."

Prior to taking questions from the large crowd of assembled reporters, Congressman Rangel spoke for several minutes in an attempt to, in his words, "get rid of some of the nonsense questions" that have surrounded this race right off the bat.

"Let me try to get rid of some of the nonsense questions and that is, am I too old to run for reelection. Clearly, I've gone through the process, I've done what candidates are supposed to do," he said.

Several of Mr. Rangel's opponents have suggested his Upper Manhattan district is in need of new leadership after his over forty year tenure. The congressman has also been dogged by persistent reports of health problems. Between February and April he was hospitalized multiple times with what he described as spinal virus. Mr. Rangel attempted to shoot down any health concerns. He also implied his main rival, Adriano Espaillat, waited until he was in the hospital before deciding to run.

"I don't think anybody that's runnning or not running is going to challenge my health, albeit one candidate made certain that I had a health problem before he announced," Mr. Rangel said, adding, "Certainly, if health was a factor, he made one big political mistake."

Mr. Rangel said he was motivated to run to extend his lengthy tenure in the House of Representatives by the current climate in Washington. Though President Barack Obama has refrained from endorsing Mr. Rangel and even once implied he thought the congressman should retire, Mr. Rangel said his admiration for the president was one of his reasons for wanting to win re-election.

"The one reason why I think it's important that I be allowed to extend the service to my country, and the Congress and my district is because of the times that we find ourselves in the Congress. Never before have we faced such a fiscal crisis," said Mr. Rangel. "On the other side of this coin, I have never been so inspired by any politician and certainly no president as I have about President Obama."

In addition to Mr. Espaillat, former Democratic National Committee political director Clyde Williams, businesswoman Joyce Johnson and Craig Schley, an ex-model, are on the ballot against Mr. Rangel. The congressman said none of his opponents have shown they'd be a better choice for voters.

"I've been so fortunate in this campaign that none of them, not one of them, has ever indicated they can do the job better," Mr. Rangel said.

Both the New York Times and the Daily News gave their endorsements to Mr. Williams. Mr. Rangel criticized their decision, citing the large margin of victory he enjoyed in his last re-election campaign and his support from other elected officials.

"I know that some newspapers are committed to making decisions that are not always based on the facts, but that's their choice," Mr. Rangel said.

After nearly fifteen minutes of talking, Mr. Rangel's aides began to pry him away from the crowd of supporters and supporters that assembled outside the school to watch him vote. As he was walking back to his car, The Politicker asked about his accusation that Mr. Espaillat is hedging his bets in their congressional race by simultaneously circulating petitions in order to run re-election to the State Senate if he loses.

Congressman Rangel brandished an alleged copy of a petition he said Mr. Espaillat was circulating during their NY1 debate earlier this month. Yesterday, in a conversation with The Politicker, Mr. Espaillat vigorously denied he's still pursuing his senate seat and claimed the petition showed by Mr. Rangel looked "fake." However, the congressman repeated the charge on Good Day New York this morning saying Mr. Espaillat is "filing that he wants to run again for the State Senate" and "should at least be mature enough" to only go after one job.

In his press conference, Mr. Rangel reversed his stance and said he takes Mr. Espaillat's word that he's not running for multiple offices.

"I believe Esplinard when he says he's not running for anything except the Congress. I believe him," Mr. Rangel said, mispronouncing his opponents name. "I want this reporter and anyone else listening to know that when Senator Esplinard says on television with me that the only office that he's running for or interested in is the House of Representatives and that he has no interest in the seat that he vacated, which is the [State] Senate, that I am one person that believes him."

Clyde Williams (photo: clyde2012.com)

Despite strong fundraising numbers, a well-organized campaign and his experience working in national politics, former DNC political director Clyde Williams is generally seen by insiders as a likely third place finisher behind State Senator Adriano Espaillat and Rep. Charlie Rangel in the race for Upper Manhattan's newly redrawn 13th congressional district. However, Mr. Williams told The Politicker he's confident about his chances when we caught up with him last night as he met with voters in rapper Doug E. Fresh's Harlem restaurant, Doug E.'s Chicken & Waffles.

"I feel very good," Mr. Williams said. "I don't particularly say I know exactly what the breakdown is going to be, but based on what we've done, our own analysis, we feel good about where we are. We know where our voters are, we plan on getting them to the polls."

When we asked Mr. Williams whether he thought it was a mistake to count him out, he had a quick one word reply.

"Totally," he said.

Mr. Williams cited his newspaper endorsements and his aggressive campaigning as evidence he could pull off an upset.

"Look, I've gotten the endorsement of the New York Times and the Daily News. We knocked on 38,000 doors, we got more than 6,000 signatures on our petitions," said Mr. Williams. "We're doing our due diligence. We're not going to worry about what people say."

Along with his ballot petitions and door-to-door stops, Mr. Williams said he's sent "more than 188,000 mailings" and participated in "hundreds of events" in the district. Over the weekend, his supporters also plastered Mr. Espaillat's base in Washington Heights with posters showing a photo of Mr. Williams during his days working in Bill Clinton's Harlem office playfighting with Muhammad Ali. According to a spokesperson for Mr. Williams, they also took advantage of the recent heat wave by distributing "thousands" of "Vote Clyde Williams" branded water bottles throughout the district.

Though Mr. Williams thinks he has a good shot, Mr. Espaillat seemingly dismissed his opponent yesterday by telling us Mr. Williams might want to set his sights on the State Legislature in Albany rather than Washington.

"He’s got a promising future, maybe as an Assembly member,” Mr. Espaillat said of Mr. Williams.

We asked Mr. Williams about Mr. Espaillat's suggestion. He thanked Mr. Espaillat for saying he would do well in Albany, but insited he's not interested in a career as an assemblyman.

"I have no desire to do that," Mr. Williams said. "I'd focus on today, but that's nice of him. Next time you see him, you can tell him I said that."

Adriano Espaillat

With tomorrow's Democratic congressional primary approaching, State Senator Adriano Espaillat hit the streets near 168th Street and Broadway in Washington Heights to encourage voters to support him in his race to unseat veteran Congressman Charlie Rangel. Several reporters tagged along and Mr. Espaillat addressed Mr. Rangel's accusation he's circulating petitions to run for re-election to the State Senate if his congressional bid is unsuccessful.

Mr. Espaillat claimed he wasn't making any effort to circulate petitions. He also said he didn't know of anyone else petitioning on his behalf. Mr. Rangel brandished physical copies of alleged ballot petitions for Mr. Espaillat at their NY1 debate earlier this month, but Mr. Espaillat implied those documents were fakes.

"I don't know, I haven't seen anything," Mr. Espaillat said of the alleged petitions. "Congressman Rangel whipped one out that looked like a fake subpoena. He wants to have people distracted."

Mr. Espaillat's chance to win the election is seen as being dependent on turnout in the newly drawn Upper Manhattan district's Latino majority. If elected, he would be the first congressman of Dominican descent.

Mr. Rangel won the seat for four straight decades when it was primarily African American and centered in Harlem. Mr. Espaillat gave us his view of the battle lines and said he was "very confident" in his chances.

"Very confident, I think we're going to have a swell of turnout here and I think we're going to win the Bronx. We're battling to win East Harlem and we're doing the best we can with Harlem," he said. "I think this is a major election and I think that I will come out victorious tomorrow."

This election campaign is generally framed as a contest between Mr. Rangel's longtime African American base and Mr. Espaillat's Latino supporters. However, Mr. Espaillat insisted it "hasn't been divisive."

"I have African American supporters, the Congressman has Latino support. This has been a very fair fight and I think one that hasn't pitted one community against each other," Mr. Espaillat said.

In addition to the challenge from Mr. Espaillat, Mr. Rangel is facing a challenge on another front from former DNC political director Clyde Williams running from inside his Harlem stronghold.

Mr. Espaillat smiled broadly when The Politicker asked him about Mr. Williams. Though he insisted he wasn't petitioning to return to Albany himself, he suggested Mr. Williams might have a bright future there.

"We love Clyde Williams. I think he brings great issues to the table, great ideas to the table," said Mr. Espaillat. "We think that he's got a promising future, maybe as an Assembly member."

Charlie Rangel (Photo: Hunter Walker)

Congressman Charlie Rangel has steadily been making the Campaign for Primary Accountability super PAC's support for one of his opponents, State Senator Adriano Espaillat, an issue throughout his reelection campaign. "Right-wingers from Texas are trying to stop him," one of his campaign mailers declared, for example. However, that super PAC -- despite promising to spend "six figures" -- never even bothered to spend as much as $10,000.

But in the modern era of super PACs, there's always another. In a campaign email to supporters entitled "Houston, We Have a Problem," the incumbent congressman lamented the existence of a different Super PAC supporting another one of his Democratic opponents, Clyde Williams.

"Did you see this story?" Mr. Rangel wrote. "The New York Times reported that a new Super PAC aimed at defeating me was just given $75,000… by one man, Reginald Van Lee."

"But here’s the real kicker: he’s not even from New York," he continued. "He’s originally from Houston, Texas. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think one rich man from Houston should swing an election in my hometown."

Unsurprisingly, Mr. Rangel turned this situation into a fundraising request for his own campaign. But with only a handful of days until Election Day, campaign contributions coming in this late are likely to have a mitigated effect.

Update: Capital New York reports that the Campaign for Primary Accountability is claiming to be getting involved in the race through a proxy organization, but subsequently admitted they aren't really getting involved in the race.

"I'm advising people not to sign any petitions with my name on it," he added when the host, Errol Louis, pressed him on it, causing Mr. Louis to label his answer as "very clear."

However, that was by far not the last time viewers of the debate heard of the charge, as Mr. Espaillat is seeking to unseat veteran Congressman Charlie Rangel, who continuously brought it up in subsequent questions.

"Your question to the Senator is very, very important," Mr. Rangel told Mr. Louis after answering an unrelated second question in the debate. "For me to think that someone would have a petition out there for me unauthorized, I would be outraged and I would take it to the District Attorney's office. Anything short of that -- and I respect the integrity of the Senator -- means that there are outlaws out there violating the law."

Mr. Rangel even pulled out a copy of the petitions (he later pulled them out again) with Mr. Espaillat's name on them to further prove his point.

"I'm glad that the congressman brought [up] the issue of ethics," Mr. Espaillat responded, answering an unrelated third question of the debate. "Because in fact, back in 2010, the congressman gave the Tea Party Republicans an early Christmas gift when he was censured."

"As a result of that, we lost 60 Democratic seats in Congress," he rather exaggeratedly added.

And yes, the fourth and fifth questions also involved rehashing this same back-and-forth between the two.

Meanwhile, another one of Mr. Rangel's challengers, former DNC political director Clyde Williams, sent out a statement reacting to this repeated exchange dismissing both candidates, declaring, "While my opponents waste time questioning each others' ethics, I question their priorities."

"The exchange about ethics between Mr. Rangel and Mr. Espaillat illustrates how they are wedded to the broken politics of Albany and Washington," he posited. "We need new ideas to build a better future, not bitter and stale partisanship that's a roadblock to progress for the people we seek to serve."

Now, with New York’s federal elections only a few weeks away, we take a look at each of the competitive elections on June 26, take a guess at which way the paper will go and deduce what kind of an effect it will have.

Disagree? Make it known in the comments.

U.S. Senate Republican Primary—Bob Turner vs. Wendy Long vs. George Maragos

It is no by means a certainty that The Times will endorse in the GOP Senate primary, and if they do, expect it to be a hold-you-nose-and-vote-for-the-guy-who-is-marginally-better-than-the-rest kind of endorsement. Expect something along the lines of the paper’s endorsement of Mitt Romney in the presidential primary in April, in which they mocked Mr. Romney for abandoning his moderating tendencies and slammed GOP extremism before declaring the Massachusetts governor “the best choice of the field.” For this little noticed Senate race for the right to go up against Kirsten Gillibrand, the paper is likely to go with Bob Turner, a Queens businessman-turned-congressman, who is far less strident in his social views than Wendy Long and more dynamic than George Maragos. Mr. Turner is running very much as the candidate of New York City, and hometown pride may count for something here.

How Much Will It Matter?

On its face, probably not all that much, since to most of the GOP primary electorate the paper remains a liberal rag that frequently skirts the edge of treason, but with turnout expected to be low, there remain Republicans in wealthy parts of New York City suburbs who aren’t paying much attention to the race, and will only decide who to vote for at the last moment, so a nod from the paper of record could prove decisive.

NY08—Hakeem Jeffries vs. Charles Barron

Possibly the easiest choice for the board this election cycle. Hakeem Jeffries is everything The Times says they want in a candidate: he has a record on Rockefeller reform, prison reform, stop-and-frisk reform, redistricting reform. education reform. Did we mention he went to Georgetown and practiced law for Paul, Weiss? Charles Barron, meanwhile, a former Black Panther with a history of throwing rhetorical bombs, would have been wise to not show up for his endorsement interview.

How Much Will It Matter?

In the more affluent parts of the district, Times penetration is strong, but those votes were going to likely go to Mr. Jeffries anyway. If anything, look for Mr. Barron to use the paper’s endorsement of Mr. Jeffries as further proof that he is the insurgent running against the establishment.

NY07—Nydia Velazquez vs. Erik Dilan

Nydia Velazquez is by no means a perfect pol from The Times standpoint—too slavishly devoted to organized labor and a little wobbly on Israel, but far far better than Erik Dilan, who is closely allied with Brooklyn Democratic Party boss Vito Lopez—a no-no from the paper’s standpoint. Plus, Ms. Velazquez has made fighting poverty a priority, as has The Times, while Mr. Dilan has been right of center in the City Council and has been less than transparent about his campaign finance filings.

How Much Will It Matter?

As these things go, it could matter quite a bit. The newly redesigned NY07 skips through some affluent neighborhoods in brownstone Brooklyn and on the east side of Manhattan where Times readership is pretty high.

NY13: Charlie Rangel vs. Adriano Espaillat vs. Clyde Williams vs. Joyce Johnson

At last, a real choice for the board. In 2010, they endorsed Joyce Johnson, a Seagram’s exec with limited political experience, but they couldn’t then endorse Charlie Rangel, whose use of rent-stabilized apartments for campaign purposes—a story that the Times uncovered—led to the longtime pol’s censure in the House. But Ms. Johnson is by no means a lock this time around, since Mr. Rangel is facing far more credible opponents. Clyde Williams, a former aide in both the Clinton and Obama White Houses, represents a new face of African-American leadership and has run a substantive campaign. Adriano Espaillat is vying to become the first Dominican in Congress, and the paper likes for minority groups to be represented by their own. And don’t discount the possibility that the board decides that the threat of losing an institution like Mr. Rangel is too grave. Mr. Espaillat’s campaign hasn’t been as policy heavy as the paper would like, but expect ethnic considerations to win out over Mr. Williams by a nose, with Mr. Rangel remaining a dark horse contender.

How Much Will It Matter?

The newly reconfigured NY13 lost the Upper West Side—which probably has the highest concentration of Times readers on the planet—and so won’t count for all that much in a new district that covers Harlem and parts of the South Bronx.

NY6: Grace Meng vs. Rory Lancman vs. Elizabeth Crowley

This is a hard one to figure, and oddly, probably depends a lot on what the Times decides to do with the Rangel race. Like Mr. Espaillat, Ms. Meng is a pathbreaking candidate, vying to be the first Asian-American from New York to serve in Congress. And the newly reconfigured district is a majority Asian. Still Rory Lancman has run a specific, policy oriented campaign, and the hard-charging Asssemblyman fits the profile of the kind of pol that The Times likes. And Ms. Meng’s ties to the Queens County Democratic Party—who have fended off accusations of throwing surrogate candidates onto the ballot to weaken Mr. Lancman—will hurt her.  If the paper goes with Mr. Espaillat in a majority Hispanic district, it likely frees the board to go with Mr. Lancman here. If not, Ms. Meng has a better shot. Elizabeth Crowley has struggled on the stump, and isn’t likely to merit serious consideration.

How Much Will It Matter?
Quite a bit in some of the more affluent neighborhoods of Queens  around Forest Hills. Mr. Lancman is counting on those voters coming home to him, so it could be devastating if the paper goes with Ms. Meng.

The scene from yesterday's candidate forum.

"Is the empty seat for the other person who's running?" an audience member asked the moderator before the candidates running against Congressman Charlie Rangel introduced themselves in Washington Heights last evening.

"Since you asked it now, I'm happy to tell you now," the moderator responded. "Hudson Heights has called Congressman Rangel's office repeatedly and we were told a few days ago, and again today, that the congressman would be unable to be here."

Mr. Rangel himself contested this explanation, insisting that he had never been invited, but regardless, the four challengers to Mr. Rangel in this year's Democratic primary discussed federal policy issues without the sitting incumbent they are hoping to unseat.

And, as they were all progressive Democrats, there were very few disagreements that emerged. One of the candidates, Clyde Williams, critiqued State Senator Adriano Espaillat's explanation for rising gas prices, insisting that larger geopolitical concerns were at fault in addition to regulatory issues. Mr. Williams also disputed Mr. Espaillat's argument that the Northern Manhattan Empowerment Zone lacked significant resources to spend in the community.

Another candidate, Craig Schley, had even harsher criticism for Mr. Espaillat, accusing him of voting against rent regulations. Mr. Espaillat contended that he actually voted the complete opposite and his spokesman pointed us to an article about the candidate's strident efforts supporting rent regulations.

The only audience member to engage the candidates in a critical fashion questioned a fourth candidate, Joyce Johnson, over her stated opposition to overregulating the financial industry. The individual accused Ms. Johnson of engaging in "meaningless platitudes" on the issue, to which Ms. Johnson clarified she definitely still supported additional regulations over the status quo.

The most notable disagreement of the night, oddly enough, might have been an intentionally lighthearted question about whether pennies and nickles should be eliminated. Mr. Williams immediately supported the concept while Ms. Johnson and Mr. Espaillat opposed it.

Mr. Schley had the most creative solution to the problem, asking, "Why don't we just make a two-headed coin, right?"

Watch these moments, in addition to the candidates' closing statements below:

Clyde Williams (photo: clyde2012.com)

"I'm talking about real jobs that are available today," Clyde Williams said as we talked over brunch in Harlem this morning (he wanted otmeal but settled for the scrambled egg plate). "Studies show that if all the jobs available were filled, the unemployment rate would be under 7%"

Mr. Williams was explaining his next policy push in his congressional campaign as he works to unseat veteran Rep. Charlie Rangel. He argued that the federal government should be doing much more to retrain workers for targeted industries and that Mr. Rangel, currently in office, has not been delivering.

Previously Mr. Williams worked for President Bill Clinton and the national Democratic party, and he leaned hard on his connections in Washington D.C. to explain why he can accomplish his agenda, even if he can't get legislation through a Republican-controlled House.

"First thing is you don't need to pass legislation to get money to actually do the job training. There's millions of dollars sitting at the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone right now, if you get elected, to actually ... do these things," he contended. "The other thing is money sitting at the labor department to do the kind of job training we're talking about."

Another prominent candidate in the race is State Senator Adriano Espaillat, but Mr. Williams stressed that he would be able to accomplish things Mr. Espaillat couldn't.

"So the difference between me and somebody like Espaillat is I've actually worked in D.C., I worked in a government agency," he said. "I know that there's money to be had to do the things that are necessary. When I go to D.C. from Day One I'll be able to hit the ground running."

His economic platform has additional planks, including a big focus on using economic development resources to bring tourism to the Uptown portions of the district.

"Tourism is a huge economic engine in Northern Manhattan," he explained. "Think about this, they come up here and they stay 3 or 4 hours, 5 max. We need to build hotels in this community where they spend four or five days ... so that we can then build all of the other ancillary things that go along with that. Those will create thousands of jobs."

Mr. Williams lamented that the race so far, as discussed in the media, has been centered on endorsements of elected officials for Mr. Espaillat and Mr. Rangel rather than substantive policy proposals.

"A lot of it is people get caught up in personalities," he answered when we asked why this has been the case. "At some level, people are more interested at talking about the black/brown dynamic in reference to the race. The thing is I believe in this, Latinos and African-Americans have much more in common than they do different."