(Photo: Jon Reznick)

State Senator Adriano Espaillat declared victory against his challenger Guillermo Linares tonight, fending off  spirited campaign that a reignited rivalries both old and new. The officially reported numbers currently have Mr. Espaillat ahead by a 2-1 margin with many outstanding precincts, indicating that his internal numbers are likely accurate as to who the ultimate victor will be.

Notably, when Mr. Espaillat challenged veteran Congressman Charlie Rangel in the Democratic primary earlier this year, Mr. Linares backed the incumbent even as the local Dominican-American community rallied behind Mr. Espaillat's bid. During the campaign, Mr. Linares announced his intentions for Mr. Espaillat's seat and held true to that promise even after the state senator said he would run for reelection.

Mr. Rangel and some of the county establishment came out strong for Mr. Linares in this race, holding a press conference condemning a controversial Espaillat campaign mailer in the strongest terms possible days before voters headed to the polls. However, a number of forces rallied on Mr. Espaillat's behalf, including 2013 mayoral contenders Scott Stringer, Bill Thompson and Bill de Blasio, all of whom were at his victory party tonight.

Additionally, Mr. Linares' daughter Mayra ran for his old assembly seat this cycle. At the moment, she's trailing the Espaillat-backed candidacy of Gabriela Rosa.

Charlie Rangel giving his passionate speech earlier today.

Last week, State Senator Adriano Espaillat's campaign circulated a tough mailer against his primary opponent, Assemblyman Guillermo Linares, in which they accused Mr. Linares of "betraying" the community by backing Rep. Charlie Rangel over Mr. Espaillat's bid to become the country's first Dominican-American congressman earlier this year and for taking campaign contributions from special interests.

Mr. Rangel, a backer of Mr. Linares' bid, is angry about the mailer. Really angry. So angry, he says, that he was motivated, in the spirit of the anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center, to condemn the controversial campaign literature in question. To that end, Mr. Rangel held a press conference where he gave a ten minute speech expressing his outrage.

Waving a copy of the mailer and standing before a crowd holding up flags from various countries, Mr. Rangel was uncharacteristically fiery but characteristically loquacious.

Mr. Rangel's remarks were clearly far too epic to edit. As such, we present a full transcript below.

"This is not a very good day for me. Most of you know the country is sharing the pain that we all felt on 9/11. I was so pleased to hear that Senator Espaillat has suspended his campaign today in memory of the lives that were lost and the attack that was made against our great city and against our great country and indeed the civilized world. And that's what makes this so-called 'press conference' so painful, because of what this country means to all of us. The liberty that we enjoyed, people all over the world can't even dream about the concept, and one of the things that makes us different from most people is that when the flag goes up, when we're talking about coming together with the unity that we had with 9/11, all of my political life, especially the days that I spent in the Congress, it has been with the concept of tranquility that people who have differences worked those differences out.

"For people to take a look at one's religion and their color and their language and their background, and to say that that should make a difference -- let's face it, I'm honest, I'm no new kid on the block. Everyone should want to see someone who looks like them and have their culture achieve the highest stations that we have in this country. Don't let me lie to you and tell you I don't feel a sense of pride with President Obama. As many differences as I may have with this president, I do feel a sense of pride for me, and my children, and my grandchildren! So the whole concept that one shouldn't take this into consideration, you leave that to those people that want to give a sermon on the mound.

"But I want to be realistic with you. But in this great country, to call a patriot a 'traitor'? To call someone who ventured to this country in order to make not only his life better, but to make America better? Who plays by the rules? Who comes here to improve the quality of education and he himself says he needed a little education? Who worked hard? Who gained political respect, not just by the public officials and the mayor, but by the people outside of his community? Doctor Linares' biggest asset was bringing people together no matter what their background was! To call this man a 'traitor' disappoints me beyond belief.

"Now, let me make it clear, when I drafted this press release, it had a whole lot of anger in it. When I finished it, it was a whole lot of reaching out. I could not believe that the senator was aware that this filth was being circulated. So I changed everything and said, 'Let him join with us today to reject whoever thought that they could put a wedge between our communities based on one's background.'

"But last night, I got a chance to watch a rerun of New York 1. And the question was asked, 'Is it true that you sent out this piece of literature condemning this man as a traitor because he supported me?' And I expected to hear a whole lot of political mumbling and rejection and 'someone did this but I don't know who.' But instead of doing that, instead of rebutting the fact that this came out of his political club, instead of rejecting  having his fingerprints on it and sending it out, he starting talking about public officials who had endorsed him. He started talking about Bill de Blasio and going to the Justice Department and Billy Thompson for endorsing him. Let me tell you something senator, you can mention all of the names you want, whether it's Cuomo, de Blasio or Thompson, I know them well enough to know they reject this and they reject the idea of this type of filth going out there. 

"We should never reach the point in this great country that political decisions are going to make you condemned as a traitor. Where you and your family and your community where you're raising your kids and your grand kids, and the label's going to be on you that you're a traitor. Traitor has a painful, painful label. This is not calling you a 'disappointment,' this is not saying, 'I disagree with you.' If you're a patriot, this means something to you. This is a stigma that no person has a right, just because they come from the same country before they reach this great country, when you get to this great country it means you put this filth behind you if you had it when you got here.

"And so I want these cameras to take a look at America. It stands behind me. It doesn't say Catholic, Protestant, Jew or Gentile. It doesn't say Latino, non-Latino. And the day will come that we don't want to have a Catholic called a traitor because they voted for a Protestant over a Catholic. Or a Jew is called a traitor because they voted for a Gentile over a Jewish member.  Or a black is called a traitor because they endorsed a non-black for a job.

"Pride is one thing, attacking someone in this manner is something else. And so it's not too late to say we make mistakes. We all make mistakes. This was more than a mistake. This was more than a mistake. It allows people to believe that you can go to a Jewish person and say, 'Yes I know our candidate's a bum, but you should vote for him anyway because he's Jewish.' Can you imagine? Or a Catholic could say it. Or a Muslim could say it! Or a Mormon could say it! 

"God forbid all of this pain and poison is not out of our country, but we're trying like hell to get rid of it. We're trying like hell to get rid of it. And so I don't think there's much more for me to say. I think this crowd, this multi-color, multicultural crowd speaks for itself, speaks for our country, speaks for our beloved congressional district here and the Bronx, it speaks for our country, it speaks for those who died for our country, and I don't see how the hell I can add anything to it."

Mr. Rangel declined to take much in the way of additional questions after delivering his lengthy statement.

A map of New York City's State Senate districts.

It's Election Day in New York next Thursday! But instead of a titanic battle between ideologies--your Mitt Romneys vs. Barack Obamas, if you will--the options on the ballot will be little-noticed state legislative contests between candidates of the same party, often with few policy differences.

However, that doesn't mean that there aren't some exciting races happening. From "Who Gets Arrested for Raping a Grandmother?" to “Assemblywoman Caught Up in Sex Scandal with Two Young Men,” there's been no shortage of nasty drama and mud slinging as voters head to the polls.

Here's a breakdown of who's running and why it might matter who wins. The list below focuses on Democratic races because the few Republican primaries in this staunchly blue city tend to have clear favorites or are taking place in such Democratic territory that the victor is reasonably likely to be irrelevant.

So, without further ado...

Category #1: The End of the Rainbow

Four Republicans crossed the aisle to help pass gay marriage in New York last year, and three of them are running for re-election this year, Senators Mark Grisanti, Steve Saland and Roy McDonald, are all facing primary challengers that have come out on the opposite side of the marriage issue.

Advocates on both sides of the debate have invested heavily in these races, and regardless of the outcome, the results are sure to help set a national narrative about what happens to Republicans who support gay marriage. Can otherwise conservative lawmakers survive the backlash, or will their unorthodoxies topple their political careers? As state legislatures across this country consider passing gay marriage themselves, these three races could impact the discussion.

And with campaign literature like this, these races won't be short on fireworks.

Category #2: Indictment Excitement

There are a number of elected officials running for re-election with various criminal allegations hanging over their heads. If the more ethically challenged ones win and are eventually convicted of abusing their offices, the results of these races might send a depressing message about the state of the electorate. (They have all maintained their innocence.)

State Senator Shirley Huntley, who was arrested a couple weeks ago on charges that she used member items to line the pockets of her friends and family, is facing a very strong primary challenge from Councilman James Sanders. Even before Ms. Huntley's legal troubles, Mr. Sanders was mounting a credible primary challenge, as his base in Far Rockaway was drawn into her southeastern Queens district in this year's redistricting process. Mr. Sanders has also picked up support from a number of unions and the influential Rev. Floyd Flake, making this race seem like it's his to lose at this point.

Assemblyman William Boyland Jr. currently stands accused of one of the more hilarious acts of alleged official impropriety in recent memory -- taking bribes to pay for his legal bills he ran up in a separate bribery case. It's not clear if Mr. Boyland intends to fight the federal charges again or accept a plea deal, but the indictment--with wiretap evidence--seems pretty damning. Damning enough that he'd have a much harder re-election bid ahead of him if it weren't for the fact that he's facing eight (!) challengers who will split the anti-Boyland vote. With such a large field, it's difficult to get a clear read on this Brownsville and Ocean Hill-based district, but activist Tony Herbert and campaign operative Anthony Jones seems to be running some of the stronger non-Boyland campaigns.

Assemblywoman Naomi Rivera is being investigated by a small army of agencies on whether she may have illegally provided jobs to her boyfriends and used a nonprofit's funds for personal and political purposes. She faces a field of three opponents, but businessman Mark Gjonaj is running the most serious campaign of the bunch, with over $200,000 in his war chest and substantial investments in advertising and field operations. Ms. Rivera won't go down without a fight, however, and the Bronx Democratic establishment is pulling out all the stops to ensure she pulls out a victory. Will she be able to survive the barrage of bad headlines that have dogged her for the last few weeks and make it through Election Day?

Category #3: Rage Against the Machine

While Ms. Rivera's race features a classic establishment vs. insurgent dynamic, it's hardly the only one. Candidates across every borough except Staten Island are running against the folks who are currently in charge. Nowhere is this dynamic more pronounced than Brooklyn, where scandal-scarred Kings County Democratic boss Vito Lopez is still ostensibly in control and has yet to formally relinquish power. If anti-County candidates succeed, it will weaken the organizations' ability to convince mayoral contenders and other candidates they are still top dogs in this city.

District Leader Lincoln Restler is considered a rising star in Democratic politics, but before he can continue rising, he's going to have to win a tough reelection battle. Mr. Restler, a prominent critic of Mr. Lopez, would be cruising to reelection but for the fact his opponent, Chris Olechowski, is destined to receive the majority of the ballots in vote-heavy Hasidic Williamsburg. It seems like all the winds are blowing in Mr. Restler's favor, but given the bloc of votes against him, this will be a race that plenty of political observers will be following Thursday night.

Senator Martin Dilan may or may not be vulnerable, but given his close alliance with Mr. Lopez and the fact that his senate district overlaps with Mr. Lopez's assembly seat, his reelection race will serve as a test for the machine in Brooklyn's new political world. While Mr. Dilan would appear to have the edge, attorney Jason Otaño is mounting a vigorous campaign. If Mr. Otaño can make a strong showing, he could be a strong candidate in the future, at the very least.

Open Seat to replace outgoing Assemblywoman Grace Meng: A crowded field of candidates is vying to replace Ms. Meng--who left the her diverse seat based in Asian-majority Flushing to pursue a congressional campaign. The County's Democratic Party has backed Ron Kim, a former government aide and political operative, but his electoral prospects are far from clear. Ms. Meng has stayed out of the race and a number of other hopefuls, notably former City Council candidate Yen Chou, are in Mr. Kim's way. The other entrants in this unpredictable race are; Ethel Chen, Myungsuk Lee and Martha Flores-Vasquez.

Open seat to replace outgoing Assemblyman Rory Lancman: Mr. Lancman lost to Ms. Meng in her congressional race's Democratic primary and isn't pursuing reelection. His seat, like Ms. Meng's, is an Asian-majority district in northeastern Queens, but the field couldn't be more different as it features just two non-Asian candidates: community board chairman Jerry Iannece and former assembly chief of staff Nily Rozic. Queens Democrats are pushing hard for Mr. Iannece, and he would seem to be favored as a result. However, Ms. Rozic has picked up a number of notable endorsements, including The New York Times and various unions, creating a genuine horse race between the two.

State Senator Toby Ann Stavisky, who's also running for reelection in a Queens district that has been reconfigured to be Asian-majority, shouldn't really be that vulnerable without any major blunders in office and a reliably Democratic voting record. However, she only won 45 percent of the vote  in 2010 against two challengers. With a district that now includes new areas, she's facing a rematch against one of her 2010 foes, John Messer. Mr. Messer, a businessman and attorney, has his placed his personal wealth in the campaign too, to the tune of $500,000. Ms. Stavisky, with close ties to her senate colleagues and Queens County, has been doing plenty of her own fundraising and running an aggressive campaign, however.

Open seat to replace outgoing Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries: Mr. Jeffries is on his way to become Brooklyn's next congressman and he's leaving a vacant Fort Greene and Clinton Hill-based district behind him. Three contenders are hoping to replace him; Walter Mosley, Ola Alabi and Martine Guerrier. Mr. Mosley has the support of Mr. Jeffries, who has a strong base in the district, but Ms. Alabi has been racking up endorsements and doesn't appear to be someone who can be easily counted out. Ms. Guerrier recently earned the endorsement of The Times and could potentially make an electoral mark of her own come Election Day.

Open seat: Pretty much everyone and their mother has endorsed community board chairman Brad Hoylman to replace retiring Senator Tom Duane in his Midtown-based district, but businessman Tommy Greco is hoping he can make a dent with the help of the storied McManus Club. It wold be a pretty surprising upset for Mr. Greco to pull off a victory, however.
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Category #4: Demographic Pressures

Like it or not, voting patterns often correspond with with ethnicity and political candidates often seek to take advantage of this fact. Some incumbents hold on year after year in districts that don't exactly look like them, while others have seen their districts change beneath their feet since they were first elected. Sometimes it all comes down to the political talents of the incumbents, while in other cases, there just might not be a path to victory anymore.

Assemblyman Steve Cymbrowitz is facing a challenge from Ben Akselrod in a race that could demonstrate electoral power of southeastern Brooklyn's Russian-speaking community. Mr. Akselrod, who started off with a strong campaign, stumbled a bit lately when he release a campaign mailer that referred to crime going up in the "negrohood," a mistake that generated local and national coverage. Whoever wins will be one of the more vulnerable Democratic candidates in the city, as the district's Russian and Orthodox Jews communities are increasingly trending conservative at the ballot box.

In a race that will test demographic realities to their very limit, veteran Assemblywoman Rhoda Jacobs is hoping she can be successfully reelected again in a district that is only 15% white. She is facing a serious challenge from District Leader Rodneyse Bichotte, who is of Caribbean descent. Ms. Jacobs, a high-ranking member of the State Assembly, is hoping for high turnout in the district's observant Jewish community.

Assemblyman Mike Miller is running for reelection in a district that contains Woodhaven and is plurality Latino. He faces off against Etienne David Adorno, who seems to be mounting a spirited campaign. If Mr. Miller's fundraising were just a tad stronger, this might not be a race to watch, but his campaign war chest is fairly weak for an incumbent.
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Category #5: Odds & Ends

There are some races to keep your thumb on that might not fit into an overarching narrative, but could still be well-worth watching for various reasons. More details below.

State Senator Adriano Espaillat, who narrowly lost a campaign against veteran Rep. Charlie Rangel earlier this year, is now running for reelection and facing a Rangel-backed challenger in Guillermo Linares. Mr. Linares, who's been endorsed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and The New York Times, hasn't been holding his own in fundraising, but Mr. Espaillat has been spending lots of money and would appear to have the edge in this Washington Heights and West Side-based district. Mr. Espaillat is a leading contender for Mr. Rangel's seat in 2014, but his political career could be nipped in the bud if Mr. Linares is able to pull off an upset.

Open seat: With Mr. Linares' challenge to Mr. Espaillat, there's a new vacant Assembly district on the northern tip of Manhattan, and several contenders, including Mr. Linares' daughter Mayra Linares, are hoping to replace him. The other candidates include Assembly aide Gabriela Rosa and former candidate Ruben Vargas. Ms. Rosa, who is backed by Mr. Espaillat, and Ms. Linares, who is obviously being supported by her father, would appear to be the frontrunners. How much Mr. Espaillat and Mr. Linares can impact this race is unknown, however, as both may be focused on their own rivalry.

Councilman Charles Barron has made headlines in recent years with provocative campaigns for governor and congress, both of which he lost badly. However, Mr. Barron is not ready to exit stage right just yet. Insiders believe Mr, Barron and his wife, Assemblywoman Inez Barron, may intend to switch offices  and keep their respective seats in the family when he is term-limited in 2013. First, Ms. Barron will have to succeed in her own re-election bid against Chris Banks.

Moshe and Avraham Tischler, brothers who are 20 and 21 years old respectively, are challenging incumbent Assemblyman Dov Hikind and frontrunner State Senate candidate Simcha Felder for two overlapping Brooklyn seats. While neither is especially likely to win, should they post strong showings, it could be taken as a sign of weakness for the two establishment pols they're opposing, as well as the Orthodox Jewish political establishment at-large. Mr. Hikind doesn't have a GOP opponent but Mr. Felder is running against incumbent Republican Senator David Storobin, and he'll need Democrats on his side in the general election.

Assemblywoman Barbara Clark's ethical issues aren't quite enough to land her in the "Indictment Excitement" category, but attorney Clyde Vanel is running an active campaign and is hoping that voter dissatisfaction could lead to an upset in her eastern Queens district.
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Veteran Assemblyman Nick Perry shouldn't necessarily be vulnerable, but his opponent, attorney and community board chairman Terry Hinds, has a relatively strong profile.
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Well, there you have it. For those who really want to get into the weeds, there are also a number of competitive court races across the city. Otherwise, this list should be more than enough to keep you busy on Election Day. Politicker, of course, will be up late into the night following the results.

(Photo: NY1.com)

Despite the long rivalry between the two men, it's been a fairly quiet campaign between State Senator Adriano Espaillat and his challenger, Assemblyman Guillermo Linares thus far. However, two days before voters head to the polls, both candidates are finally delivering the exciting race political reporters had hoped for all along. In a debate on Inside City Hall last night, the atmosphere remained subdued through the first half, but after both candidates got a chance to question one another, the rhetoric became more charged with accusations flying back-and-forth.

"I took the lead to mobilize the livery [cab] industry over legislation that sought to legalize them over 7 million where yellows don't go," Mr. Linares said of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's proposal to legalize street hails of livery cabs in the outer boroughs and northern Manhattan. "My question to you is, understanding how that this industry is the heart and soul of our community, how was it that you were opposing, from the very beginning to the very end, this legislation when it was so very critical for our community?"

"Totally disingenuous, he was not the leader of this bill," Mr. Espaillat responded, arguing that he did, in fact, vote for the bill and that Mr. Linares' campaign was funded by special interests who actually opposed the bill. “I wasn't in the pockets of the insurance brokers who are donating to his campaign."

"You have received over $50,000 from the landlord lobby, and you have received thousands of dollars from irreputable car wash dealers that are paying their employees under the minimum wage," Mr. Espaillat began when it was his turn to ask a question. “I have a very simple question for you assembly member, will you give that money back?"

Mr. Linares methodically answered that his positions aren't dictated by his donors and urged viewers to take a look at his record. But it might have been the host, Josh Robin, who asked the toughest question about a controversial mailer Mr. Espaillat sent out accusing Mr. Linares of betraying the Latino community by supporting Rep. Charlie Rangel's congressional campaign instead of Mr. Espaillat's bid to be the country's first Dominican-American congressman earlier this year.

"This flier that you just shown was his last mailing to the voters in the district and it is highly charged and divisive in nature, and I consider it below you senator to be relying on something like this and I will say it is shameful also," Mr. Linares contended. "This is heavily charged and divisive and it is not the type of campaign we are to be having, pitting one community against another."

"Guillermo Linares has adhered to backroom politics," Mr. Espaillat shot back in the final moments of the discussion, pointing to Mr. Linares running his daughter for his assembly seat while he campaigns for the State Senate. "Extending his seat as if though it were a bloodline to his daughter. That is outrageous!"

The fireworks will continue later this morning too. Mr. Linares is holding a press conference with Mr. Rangel to vocally condemn the campaign mailer, the first such media event of Mr. Linares' campaign. (For his part, Mr. Espaillat declared he's suspending campaign activities to honor the fallen of 9/11).

(Photo: Getty)

Governor Andrew Cuomo took an unusual step this afternoon and endorsed a member of the Senate Democratic conference, Adriano Espaillat, for reelection. Mr. Cuomo has had a fairly frosty relationship with the Senate Democrats, usually preferring to side with the Republican majority on contentious issues like redistricting, pension reform and the like, so his first endorsement of a Democratic candidate for the State Senate is notable.

To illustrate the point, Mr. Cuomo declined to go out of his way to endorse Democrat Lew Fidler in his infamously close special election for the State Senate earlier this year, despite the fact that he endorsed in a Democrat vs. Democrat special election in the State Assembly that occurred on the same day. Mr. Fidler went on to lose to his Republican opponent by 13 votes. Later, Mr. Cuomo would directly decline to say if he would support Democratic candidates for that legislative chamber, creating much speculation about his ultimate intentions.

In Mr. Espaillat's case, however, he is facing a primary challenge from Assemblyman Guillermo Linares in an extremely Democratic district, so whoever wins on September 13th next week will be sure to win in November.

"I am proud to endorse Senator Adriano Espaillat for re-election based on his strong record of supporting tenants, expanding opportunities for immigrants, and advocating for policies that helped restore New York State's status as the Progressive Capital of America," Mr. Cuomo said in a statement. "Adriano has been an important partner in making New York State's government work for the people again, and we need him to continue serving in the Senate as a strong progressive fighter. I urge voters in the 31st Senatorial District to join me in supporting Adriano Espaillat and sending him back to Albany."

Mr. Cuomo's capitalized phrase, "Progressive Capital of America," is reminiscent of the unusually partisan speech he gave near the Democratic convention in North Carolina this week. While blasting Mitt Romney and defending Democratic philosophy, Mr. Cuomo stood before a sign that read, "New York State: Progressive Capital of the Nation."

The speech spurred increasing speculation that he intends to run in the 2016 Democratic primary for President.

Adriano Espaillat speaking to his supporters the night of his congressional challenge. (Photo: Facebook)

State Senator Adriano Espaillat, who announced his intention to seek reelection after narrowly losing a congressional primary against Rep. Charlie Rangel earlier this year, continues to scoop up endorsements that were unfamiliar to him in his last race as he now faces off against the Rangel-backed candidacy of Assemblyman Guillermo Linares.

The latest endorsement came this morning from the Jim Owles Democratic Club, a relatively influential LGBT backing made even more so by Mr. Espaillat's new district being contorted all the way down to W. 25th Street, a good 45 blocks further south than his Washington Heights-based district stretched in the last electoral cycle.

"Rangel's opponents, including his chief opponent Adriano Espaillat, did not respond to repeated requests to appear before our screening panel," the club's president, Allen Roskoff, scoffed in his endorsement of Mr. Rangel earlier this year. "Anyone who does not want to run with the support of leading LGBT organizations cannot be trusted to be true fighters in the cause to further these basic rights"

In this morning's press release, however, Mr. Roskoff declared, “We are proud to support Senator Adriano Espaillat for re-election because of his strong progressive record, including an unshakable commitment to marriage equality and other important LGBT issues."

Far more notable than the club, however, are influential forces like the labor-backed Working Families Party and the top Manhattan-wide elected official, Borough President Scott Stringer, both of which endorsed Mr. Rangel but are now joining the Espaillat campaign.

Adriano Espaillat declaring for the State Senate earlier this week. (Photo: Hunter Walker)

While State Senator Adriano Espaillat was contesting his ultimately unsuccessful primary challenge to Congressman Charlie Rangel, he certainly wasn't slouching in gearing up his backup plan of running for reelection to the State Legislature. Collecting signatures solely after Election Day on June 26th, Mr. Espaillat's campaign submitted 4,238 signatures to get onto the ballot yesterday, far above the threshold needed for the run.

"In just two weeks, our campaign collected more than four times the number of signatures needed to qualify for the ballot - a fact that demonstrates the strength of Senator Espaillat's candidacy and the enthusiasm of our many volunteers and supporters," Mr. Espaillat's spokesman, Ibrahim Khan, said in a statement last night. "Senator Espaillat has been a strong, progressive Democrat who has sponsored legislation to raise the minimum wage, led the way on extending and strengthening tenant protections, and supported independent redistricting. He will continue to be a Senator New Yorkers can be proud of."

Mr. Khan made a point of stressing that, although it would have been allowed, his campaign did not accept any signatures for Mark Levine, a close ally of Mr. Espaillat's who was already petitioning for his seat on the hope that the state senator would successfully unseat Mr. Rangel and leave a vacancy behind him.

He also said they did not include any signatures -- collected without Mr. Espaillat's consent -- gathered before the 26th of last month, in accordance with the senator's claim that he was only campaigning for one office at a time, a major sticking point of Mr. Rangel's during the congressional race.

Assemblyman Guillermo Linares, who announced his state senate campaign months ago and vowed to continue on regardless of Mr. Espaillat's situation, may very well have collected more signatures than the incumbent, but the thinking in the Espaillat campaign, it seems, is that they've made a signal of strength in the opening shot.

Voters head to the polls September 13th.

State Senator Adriano Espaillat announcing his intention to run for re-election.

State Senator Adriano Espaillat officially moved on to a new race at a meeting of the Northern Manhattan Democrats for Change and the Friends of Adriano Espaillat in Fort George Presbyterian Church tonight, but he still had a lot to say about the close and controversial congressional campaign he just lost to longtime incumbent Charlie Rangel. Mr. Espaillat, who conceded to Mr. Rangel on Monday announced his intention to run for re-election to the State Senate, something he repeatedly said he didn't plan to do “at this time" during his congressional race.

"Do you want me to run for the Senate? Do you want me to run for the Senate? Do you want me to run for the Senate?" Mr. Espaillat shouted to the cheering crowd in the church before switching languages to officially announce his re-election bid.

"The fire has not been put out. The hope you had has to persist," Mr. Espaillat said in Spanish. "The unity has to always survive."

Mr. Espaillat said he believed he and his supporters "came out stronger" from his unsuccessful attempt to unseat Mr. Rangel.

"You know, I'm still at fighting weight. It was just a couple weeks ago," he said.

Mr. Espaillat also said he believed "Northern Manhattan came together" and began a "summer of unity" during his congressional campaign. He asked his supporters to build on that unity for his re-election bid.

"Let's build that coalition that we know we're able to build, where everybody comes and votes, a big tent approach to politics where the Asian, the black, the Latino, no matter wherever country they come from, the African American, the young, the senior, the man and the woman, everybody could be under that same tent," said Mr. Espaillat. "Let's not allow the treachery of politics to divide this community."

Mr. Espaillat's race pits him against another prominent leader in Upper Manhattan's Dominican community, Assemblyman Guillermo Linares. Mr. Linares was initially expected to support Mr. Espaillat's congressional campaign, but he switched to Mr. Rangel's side in May. In exchange, Mr. Rangel and his allies have pledged to support Mr. Linares and the efforts of his daughter, Mayra Linares, in her effort to run for the Assembly seat he is vacating.

At the church tonight, Mr. Espaillat was joined by Mark Levine, a local district leader who was previously planning to make his own run at the State Senate seat if Mr. Espaillat was elected to Congress. Mr. Espaillat also received an endorsement from Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, who gave his support to Mr. Rangel in the congressional race. Afterwards, Mr. Stringer explained his reasons for backing Mr. Espaillat this time around.

"I think it's a different race, a different set of circumstances. Sometimes you can choose between two very good candidates as was the case between Congressman Rangel and Senator Espaillat," Mr. Stringer said. "But make no mistake, and I said it during the course of the congressional race, I believe very strongly that Adriano Espaillat has been a very effective State Senator representing a very diverse district and I think we need to send him back."

Mr. Espaillat's race against Mr. Rangel came down to the wire. The Board of Elections claimed Mr. Rangel won by more than six percent on election night, but they subsequently admitted they left votes uncounted in several precincts. Mr. Rangel's margin of victory eventually shrank as the results were re-examined. During this time, Mr. Espaillat's supporters made allegations of voter fraud and voter suppression and lawyers for Mr. Espaillat took the Board of Elections to State Supreme Court to address the "irregularities" in the vote count “possible voter suppression." Mr. Espaillat's attorneys dropped the case this week because the Court requires evidence of "find five or six or seven times the number of irregularities as the margin" and with Mr. Rangel leading by over 1,000 votes that did not seem possible for Mr. Espaillat's legal team. Though he's no longer pursuing the matter in court, Mr. Espaillat made it clear he still unhappy with the Board of Elections.

"The Latino Justice group has asked the federal Department of Justice to step in and take a look at what occurred here with regards to language access. They are very concerned about the fact that hundreds of inspectors were switched, previous bilingual inspectors were switched to non bilingual personnel," said Mr. Espaillat. "But, I leave that up to them, you know, we already crossed that bridge. I withdrew my lawsuit, you know, I'm asking voters to be confident in the electoral system. Whatever's broken, w'ere going to fix."

Earlier this evening, J.C. Polanco a Republican Board of Elections Commissioner for the Bronx wrote the Daily News saying he'd like Mr. Espaillat to apologize for the "tons of false, malicious and downright rotten allegations of voter suppression, fraud, and claims of sinister plots of collusion to hand a victory to Congressman Rangel" he made against the BOE. Mr. Polanco went as far as drafting a letter for Mr. Espaillat to sign thanking BOE staffers for their "hard work" and apologizing for accusing them of "terrible things." The Politicker asked Mr. Espaillat his thoughts on Mr. Polanco's letter.

"J.C. likes to go on NY1, you know, I've seen him. He's a nice guy, I like J.C. but, you know, I will not apologize to a dysfunctional institution that has not completed their job the way they should have," Mr. Espaillat said.

Mr. Espaillat also pointed to criticisms of the BOE made by others.

"I'm not the only one to say this. Mayor Bloomberg, take it to the mayor, he has been saying it consistently, consistently and consistently. You know, Bill de Blasio said it. NALEO, the National Association of Latino Elected Officials sent a letter to Department of Justice officials asking them to step in," said Mr. Espaillat. "I'm not talking about that because the experts, the lawyers got that in their hands right now. We're talking about the future, we're talking about the Senate."

During his congressional race as he denied having plans to run for re-election if he lost, the Rangel campaign made repeated allegations Mr. Espaillat was circulating petitions for a potential State Senate campaign. At the time, Mr. Espaillat disavowed any knowledge of efforts to circulate petitions on his behalf and said, "Congressman Rangel whipped one out that looked like a fake subpoena." The Politicker asked Mr. Espaillat how he was able to get the necessary petitions for his re-election bid if he wasn't involved in collecting signatures during his congressional campaign. Mr. Espaillat answered by saying he only began circulating petitions after election day.

"If you go to the Board of Elections tomorrow, you will see that no signature was gathered for this campaign until after the 26th," Mr. Espaillat said. "I project that we will submit tomorrow 5,000 signatures that were collected from the 27th forward."

Mr. Espaillat isn't just confident about the number of signatures he's going to collect. He also predicted he will defeat Mr. Linares handily.

"I think that they're going to re-elect me in a huge way," Mr. Espaillat said. "I think this is going to be a huge landslide."

(Photo: MyFox New York)

State Senator Adriano Espaillat is expected to run for reelection after failing to defeat Congressman Charlie Rangel this year, and Mr. Rangel made it clear this morning that he's backing another candidate, Assemblyman Guillermo Linares, for Mr. Espaillat's seat. To explain his support for Mr. Linares, Mr. Rangel repeatedly said that it was due to Mr. Espaillat insisting his sole focus was his congressional bid in the campaign.

"The senator had indicated during the heat of the campaign that he would not run for his old seat if he lost, he said that several times," Mr. Rangel said on Good Day New York. "What makes that a problem, is because people believed he wasn't running, Guillermo Linares ... said he would run and file petitions to run for that so-called vacant seat, and so that does cause a problem."

(Although technically Mr. Espaillat never ruled out the possibility of running for reelection, and many insiders expected it was a strong possibility during the campaign.)

Mr. Linares made headlines as a prominent Dominican supporter of Mr. Rangel as Mr. Espaillat was seeking to become the first Dominican-American Member of Congress, earning Mr. Rangel's support in turn. Or, as one person close to Mr. Rangel told The Politicker earlier, “We owe Linares. He put his ass on the line.”

"Assemblyman Linares," Mr. Rangel accordingly responded when directly asked who he was backing. "It was clear to me that there would be a vacant seat. The senator made it clear that he was not going to run for that seat. So there was a cross endorsement as assemblyman endorsed me, and at the press conference, I endorsed him."

And, as Mr. Espaillat went on Inside City Hall last night to discuss the end of his congressional campaign, Mr. Linares went on Capital Tonight to explain his senatorial one.

“You can’t get clearer than that that I’m prepared to run, and run to bring my message to all of the voters in the diverse district that I hope will listen to what I have to share, and then will make a decision on Election Day,” Mr. Linares said.

Guillermo Linares (Photo: Twitter)

Last night, shortly before 9 p.m., Ronnie Sykes, the spokeswoman for Congressman Charlie Rangel's re-election campaign sent out a press release announcing Assemblyman Guillermo Linares' endorsement of Mr. Rangel. The release identified Mr. Linares as the "first Dominican elected official in the U.S." Less than two hours later, Ms. Sykes sent out a modified press release calling Mr. Linares "the first Dominican elected to a major political office in the United States."  Ms. Sykes confirmed to The Politicker that the press release was corrected because Mr. Linares is, in fact, not the first Dominican elected official.

Mr. Linares was elected to the New York City Council on November 5, 1991. Twenty four hours earlier and just about five miles away from Mr. Linares' Council district, a woman named Kay Palacios was elected to the City Council of Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.

The discrepancy was first identified in 2010 in New Jersey Dominicans: A Decade of Accomplishments, a study released by the Conference on Dominican Affairs that was produced by Dr. María Teresa Feliciano of the Institute for Latino Studies and Néstor Montilla of the Common Roots Project.

Prior to the study, Mr. Linares was commonly considered the first Dominican elected official in the United States. Dr. Feliciano and Mr. Montilla discovered the mistake after interviewing a New Jersey political activist named Lucilo Santos.

"Guillermo was elected in 1991 and he is deemed by all reported accounts as the first Dominican elected official in the United States," Mr. Santos said in a press release announcing the results of the study. "However, here in New Jersey, a Dominican woman who was also elected on the same year, went unnoticed because in the ‘Big Metropoli’ Guillermo captured all the media’s attention."

Before Dr. Feliciano and Mr. Montilla released their report, Mr. Linares believed he was the first Dominican to hold public office in the United States. Ms. Palacios is the daughter of an opponent of the former Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo and her family escaped his regime by fleeing to America, where she was born. Mr. Linares, who was born in the Dominican Republic,  is correctly identified in his official State Assembly biography as "the first Dominican born elected to public office in the United States," but he reportedly told the Gotham Gazette he was "the first Dominican elected to public office in the country" several months after the study was released and he is still regularly identified as America's first Dominican public official in press reports.