Keith Wright (Photo: NYS Assembly)

At Congressman Charlie Rangel's election night party outside Sylvia's Restaurant on Malcolm X Boulevard June 26, former New York Governor David Paterson served as emcee entertaining the crowd with political patter and jokes as the results rolled in. Standing on stage with Mr. Rangel's other longtime Harlem allies, Assemblyman Keith Wright, co-chair of the New York Democratic Party, and Assemblyman Carl Heastie, leader of the Bronx Democratic Party, Mr. Paterson declared Mr. Rangel victorious in his race against State Senator Adriano Espaillat.

"The firm of Heastie, Paterson & Wright have projected Charles Rangel the winner in the 13th Congressional District primary," Mr. Paterson proclaimed to loud cheers and applause.

Mr. Paterson's remarks were seemingly made in jest, however ten days after the election, there are some who fear Mr. Rangel's cronies did hand him a victory after the initial Board of Elections result was found to have left votes uncounted in over thirty precincts and Mr. Espaillat's campaign has gone to court with allegations of voter suppression and other "irregularities." In this morning's Daily News, Juan Gonzalez published a column detailing "troubling signs" that some Board of Elections officials engaged "in an all-out effort by the Democratic Party establishment to ensure a Rangel victory."

In a conversation with The Politicker, Mr. Wright vehemently denied the various charges in Mr. Gonzalez's story.

"It's not true," Mr. Wright said. "It's absolutely untrue."

In his report, Mr. Gonzalez claimed Timothy Gay, a deputy chief clerk at the Board of Elections who is overseeing the counting of votes in the Manhattan portion of the congressional district, met with "key Rangel campaign operatives, and with district leaders supporting Rangel." Mr. Gay told Mr. Gonzalez that at the meeting, which he said he attended at Mr. Wright's behest, he gave district leaders "lists of their Democratic inspectors assigned to their specific districts" and discussed "election matters in general."

"So why did candidate Rangel’s campaign staffers attend, while no Democratic district leaders who supported Espaillat were invited?" Mr. Gonzalez asked.

According to Mr. Wright, the meeting was "standard operating procedure" and Mr. Gay also had similar discussions with Mr. Espaillat's staffers.

"We did nothing that's not normally done and Mr. Espaillat has done it also. His folks are on the phone with Mr. Gay all the time. We asked for the list of who would be at our poll sites as we do before every election. Nothing serious, nothing negative," said Mr. Wright. "Mr. Espaillat did not invite me to be a part of his phone conversations with the Board of Elections, so why should I have [invited them to ours]?"

Ibrahim Khan, a spokesman for Mr. Espaillat said their campaign had routine phone conversations with Board of Elections officials several times during the race, but there were no in-person meetings like the one Mr. Gay had with Mr. Rangel's supporters.

"We've had conversations with various BOE officials throughout this process," said Mr. Khan.

Normally, poll workers are recommended by district leaders in their respective precincts. However, Mr. Gonzalez said he spoke with "a half-dozen district leaders who supported Espaillat" who told him "the Board of Elections rejected virtually all the people they recommended as poll workers."

Mr. Wright described this claim as "totally baseless." Mr. Gonzalez also said the Board of Elections reduced the number of Spanish interpreters it sent to the polls "throughout" Mr. Espaillat's base in Washington Heights "even though the board knew to expect a surge of Hispanic voters backing Espaillat, who is Dominican." Mr. Wright disputed this claim as well.

"When I went up to Washington Heights, I saw nothing but Spanish interpreters. I saw nothing but," he said.

Mr. Wright, who campaigned on Mr. Rangel's behalf, suggested Mr. Espaillat and his supporters were raising issues with the election to cost Mr. Rangel and his allies in future races.

"They're trying to create a Pyrrhic victory. Not going to happen," said Mr. Wright.

We ended up on the phone with Mr. Wright after calling his district office looking for his chief of staff, Jeanine Johnson, who is also one of the attorneys representing Mr. Rangel in the case Mr. Espaillat has brought against the Board of Elections. Mr. Wright said we should just talk to him instead. He also said Mr. Gonzalez made no attempt to speak with him before writing his piece about the Board.

"He didn't talk to me. It was irresponsible journalism, totally irresponsible," Mr. Wright said. "Please put in that Mr. Gonzalez did not speak to me, because I would have told him the whole story."

In a pair of emails to The Politicker, Mr. Gonzalez claimed he reached out to Mr. Wright at his office yesterday.

"Called his office yesterday and left a message, but received no reply," Mr. Gonzalez wrote. "Ask him to talk to his Harlem office. He'll see I left a message that I needed to talk to him about the Espaillat/Rangel race."

We called Mr. Wright backed and told him Mr. Gonzalez said he left a message with the office. Mr. Wright, in no uncertain terms said that was impossible. He also told us he called Mr. Gonzalez this morning after seeing the story and was still awaiting a response.

"That's such bullshit and that's such bullshit," said Mr. Wright. "He did not reach out to me, he's lying."

Leo Glickman, Adriano Espaillat's attorney, speaking to the press after today's hearing.

This morning, New York State Supreme Court in the Bronx held a hearing in the matter of Adriano Espaillat vs. The Board of Elections in The City of New York addressing issues with the counting of ballots and alleged voter suppression in the increasingly close congressional race between veteran Congressman Charlie Rangel and State Senator Adriano Espaillat. Lawyers for both candidates and the Board of Elections appeared before Judge John Carter who, in a small victory for the Espaillat campaign, ruled all ballots cast in the June 26 election must be preserved and barred the BOE from transmitting results to the New York State Board of Elections once they are certified so that the Court may review any disputed paper ballots, alleged instances of voter supression and issues with the results from the electronic voting machines. Those issues will be examined in another hearing scheduled for July 11. Judge Carter's ruling also left open the possibility that a "new primary election" will be held "upon a finding that there has been such fraud and irregularity as to render impossible a determination" of who won last week's election.

Mr. Rangel was initially declared victorious after the June 26 election, but the results initially given to the press and both campaigns by the BOE were later determined to have left votes in many precincts uncounted. The results first issued by the BOE showed Mr. Rangel defeating Mr. Espaillat by 2,331 votes. After a review, that margin shrunk down to 802 votes. Neither result includes the paper ballots cast by absentee voters and affidavit ballots submitted by those whose name is not on the voter rolls when they arrive at the polling place. The BOE began counting those paper ballots today.

In court, Mr. Carter began today's hearing by noting, "I live in the district and I vote, I just want to make sure that's on the record."

Leo Glickman, who is one of Mr. Espaillat's attorneys along with election law guru Marty Connor, said he was concerned about being able to view the inspection of voting machines used in the election "to determine any irregularities caused by machine related malfunctions." He also raised the issue of "possible voter suppression" noting, "we have identified many instances in which people were turned away from the polls and were treated to quite hostile conditions by board of elections workers."

Stephen Kitzinger, one of the attorneys representing the BOE said the Board is simply using "duly adopted policies and procedures" in counting the votes. Both Mr. Kitzinger and Mr. Rangel's attorney, Arthur Greig, accused Mr. Espaillat's lawyers of attempting "to slow down the counting process." Mr. Kitzinger also said it was "highly inappropriate" and "disturbing" for Mr. Espaillat and his supporters have raised the spectre of voter fraud and voter suppression in court and at press conferences without first going to the BOE.

"It's disturbing to the Board that those allegations were made without being reported to the Board," he said. "It's one thing to say to the press that we have allegations of fraud and voter suppression, but to not bring those allegations to anyone with the power to investigate seems highly inappropriate."

Mr. Kitzinger also noted that the allegations "lack specificity."

Mr. Glickman said his team is still "gathering" information about these instances of alleged voter suppression.

"This was an election that just happened last week and complaints have been coming in since then," he said.

The Espaillat campaign has promoted a telephone hotline for voters to share their tales of issues at the polls.

All of the attorneys will return to Judge Carter's courtroom next Wednesday to discuss any disputed paper ballots, issues with the voting machines and the instances of alleged voter suppression. The other three candidates in the race, Joyce Johnson, Clyde Williams and Craig Schley, will also be notified of the hearing, though none of them obtained enough votes to be in contention at this point.

Congressman Charlie Rangel speaking at his election night party in Harlem.

Six days after election day and a premature declaration of victory for Rep. Charlie Rangel, there is still no official winner in the Upper Manhattan congressional race between Mr. Rangel and State Senator Adriano Espaillat. This afternoon, lawyers for both candidates are headed to New York State Supreme Court to address issues with the Board of Elections' tabulation of the results in their congressional race and alleged instances of "irregular and possibly fraudulent returns from voting machines." Mr. Rangel prepared for the legal battle by sending an email to his supporters saying he's "completely baffled" by the situation and asking for donations to help him in the court fight.

"To my surprise, my opponent's campaign pounced on me on Friday, saying that I had somehow stolen their votes! I'm completely baffled by the situation and the way my opponent has been reacting," Mr. Rangel wrote. "I don't know what will transpire in the coming days, but one thing is clear: I need your help to prepare myself for another battle -- whether it's a legal battle with the Board of Elections or with my opponent."

The BOE initially told the press and both campaigns that unofficial results showed Mr. Rangel beating Mr. Espaillat with 16,252 voters or 45.7 percent to Mr. Espaillat’s 13,921 votes, 39.1 percent of the total with 100 precincts reported. These unofficial results do not include paper ballots cast by absentee voters and affidavit ballots submitted by those whose name is not on the voter rolls when they arrive at the polling place. It was subsequently discovered the Board of Elections did not count the votes from over thirty precincts in the district.

After a re-examination, the BOE released unofficial results on Saturday including votes cast in all of the district’s 506 precincts that show Mr. Rangel defeating Mr. Espaillat by a margin of just 802 votes. According to the BOE, Mr. Rangel received 18,075 votes, or 44.29 percent of the total cast, compared to Mr. Espaillat’s 17,273, 42.33 percent of the votes cast. According a BOE spokeswoman, as of this weekend there were 2,110 paper ballots cast in the race so far. The BOE will begin counting paper ballots on Thursday.

If the numbers provided by the BOE are correct this time, Mr. Espaillat would need to earn about 69 percent of votes from paper ballots when they are are counted next week. Though more absentee ballots may still come in and Mr. Espaillat's supporters have claimed most of the paper ballots were cast in neighborhoods favorable to him, if these numbers are correct, it would be a tall order for Mr. Espaillat to earn enough of a majority of the paper ballots to take the win away from Mr. Rangel. However, if the paper ballots bring the margin to within 0.5 percent, all of the votes will be recounted. Not including paper ballots, Mr. Rangel's margin of victory currently stands at 1.96 percent. Whatever happens, considering Mr. Rangel has spent more than forty years without losing his seat and Mr. Espaillat’s performance in this race was certainly impressive, leaving him in strong position to make another run in the district in 2014.

Read Mr. Rangel's email full to supporters below.

By now, I'm sure you've heard that my race is completely not over. It's been days since primary day, yet there are still votes to be counted.

To my surprise, my opponent's campaign pounced on me on Friday, saying that I had somehow stolen their votes! I'm completely baffled by the situation and the way my opponent has been reacting.

As the Daily News reported, "State Sen. Adriano Espaillat's campaign isn't hiding its pleasure at the news that the Manhattan Supreme Court will hold a Monday hearing on the results of his election battle with incumbent Rep. Charlie Rangel."

I don't know what will transpire in the coming days, but one thing is clear: I need your help to prepare myself for another battle -- whether it's a legal battle with the Board of Elections or with my opponent.

Would you please consider making a contribution of $10.00 or more?

Your financial help will allow me to receive legal counseling for the bumpy roads ahead.

I will keep you posted. Thank you for being a friend.

Sincerely,
Charlie Rangel
Member of Congress

Congressman Charlie Rangel speaking at his election night party in Harlem.

The race between veteran Congressman Charlie Rangel and State Senator Adriano Espaillat for the 13th Congressional District in Upper Manhattan will come down to paper ballots. Mr. Rangel was initially declared the winner by the Associated Press based on initial results provided by the New York City Board of Elections, but it was subsequently revealed those results did not include votes from many of the precincts in the district. After a re-examination of the votes, the BOE released unofficial results tonight including votes cast in all of the district's 506 precincts that show Mr. Rangel defeating Mr. Espaillat by a margin of just 802 votes. According to the BOE, Mr. Rangel received 18,075 votes, or 44.29 percent of the total cast, compared to Mr. Espaillat's 17,273, 42.33 percent of the votes cast.

These unofficial results do not include paper ballots cast by absentee voters and affidavit ballots submitted by those whose name is not on the voter rolls when they arrive at the polling place. Those paper ballots, which include votes for both candidates, will be counted by the BOE next Thursday and will be the deciding factor in this tight race.

On Thursday, Mr. Espaillat's supporters held a press conference in front of Mr. Rangel's office where they called for a federal monitor to oversee the counting of votes after the issues with the initial results. Some of the supporters also made allegations of voter suppression and voter fraud at the polls on election day. Attorneys for Mr. Espaillat claim they were unable to monitor the recount and sought an injunction against the BOE to be allowed to observe the ongoing vote count. That hearing is scheduled to take place in State Supreme Court Monday.

Mr. Espaillat's spokesman, Ibrahim Khan, released a statement about the unofficial results in which he promised the campaign will continue their push for "transparency" in the vote counting process.

"Four days after polls closed, we finally have a preliminary vote count, excluding thousands of paper ballots. With each new tally, Senator Espaillat's vote total increases," Mr. Khan said. "As paper ballots begin to be counted and this dead-heat race continues, we are grateful to all of our supporters and will continue to push for full transparency in counting every single vote."

According to BOE spokeswoman Valerie Vazquez, there are 2,110 paper ballots cast in the race so far. To make up the make up the difference between him and Mr. Rangel, Mr. Espaillat will need to earn about 69 percent of these votes when the paper ballots are counted next week. Though more absentee ballots may still come in and his supporters have claimed most of the paper ballots were cast in neighborhoods favorable to Mr. Espaillat, if these numbers are correct, it seems unlikely Mr. Espaillat would be able to earn enough of a majority of the paper ballots to take the win away from Mr. Rangel. Either way, considering Mr. Rangel has gone over forty years without losing his seat, Mr. Espaillat's performance in this race was certainly impressive.

View the unofficial results below, which also include the other candidates in the race, Clyde Williams, Joyce Johnson and Craig Schley.

(Updated 10:19 p.m. with the current paper ballot totals from the BOE.)

Ydanis Rodriguez speaking at today's press conference.

Supporters of State Senator Adriano Espaillat are calling for a federal monitor to step in and oversee the counting of votes in his congressional race against longtime Congressman Charlie Rangel after reports of uncounted votes emerged yesterday. Mr. Rangel was initially declared the victor by the Associated Press and in unofficial totals from the Board of Elections after the election on Tuesday, but the AP subsequently published a report claiming results from 33 of the 506 precincts in the Upper Manhattan district remained uncounted. Mr. Espaillat's supporters announced their push for a federal monitor at a press conference in front of Mr. Rangel's office in Harlem where some of the attendees also made allegations of voter fraud at the polls Tuesday.

"I'm here today to call for a federal monitor on the Board of Elections. It is unacceptable that 48 hours after the elections took place....we don't have the outcome of this election," said Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez, a close ally of Mr. Espaillat's. "We also have a lot of concerns that still the Board of Elections has not received [results from] a number of election districts. We don't know where they are, they don't know where they are."

Though Mr. Rodriguez did not provide specific numbers or locations of the precincts where votes remain uncounted, he said most of these precincts are in areas favorable to Mr. Espaillat inside his State Senate district.

"Most of the election districts that the Board has not received, they are from our district. They are Adriano Espaillat's numbers," Mr. Rodriguez said as the crowd chanted Mr. Espaillat's name. "I am completely convinced that Senator Adriano Espaillat will be a congressman at the end of this process."

The Board of Elections initially told The Politicker and both the Espaillat and Rangel campaigns that the unofficial results showed Mr. Rangel beating Mr. Espaillat with 16,252 voters or 45.7 percent to Mr. Espaillat’s 13,921 votes, 39.1 percent of the total with 100 precincts reported. Unofficial results do not include affidavit ballots submitted by absentee voters and those whose name is not on the rolls when they arrive at the polling place, however the numbers initially reported by the Board of Elections gave Mr. Rangel a 6.6 percent margin that was more than enough of a cushion to weather any changes caused by the outstanding affidavit ballots. The Associated Press report placed Mr. Rangel’s actual margin of victory at a much smaller 2.8 percent and said the returns from the 33 precincts outstanding along with the affidavit ballots. The Board of Elections has not responded to multiple phone calls and emails from The Politicker asking them to explain the discrepancy or identify how many precincts remain uncounted. However, sources with knowledge of the situation said the Board communicated to the campaigns yesterday and confirmed the AP report.

Lawyers for the Espaillat campaign led by Leo Glickman have been at the Board of Elections monitoring the situation. In an email to The Politicker, Mr. Glickman claimed Board of Elections officials told him they were ordered not to give out information about which precincts remain uncounted.

"The Board of Elections staff is not allowing us to get the tallies. They are very nice but they are apparently acting on orders," Mr. Glickman wrote. "We are watching people put the  memory sticks from each election district from 15 feet away without being able to see the information om the sticks."

In addition to expressing concerns about the uncounted precincts, Mr. Rodriguez said he believed the affidavit ballots would help Mr. Espaillat close the gap with Mr. Rangel. He claimed the Board of Elections received 3,174 affidavit ballots, mostly from neighborhoods in the 70th, 71st and 72nd Districts which were favorable to Mr. Espaillat.

"Those are election districts where Senator Espaillat won big time," Mr. Rodriguez said.

Mr. Espaillat was not at the press conference. According to Mr. Rodriguez, "at this moment Senator Espaillat is not speaking, we are looking at the numbers.

One of the Espaillat supporters who joined Mr. Rodriguez at the press conference was Ruben Dario Vargas, who briefly entered the race against Mr. Rangel in April. After less than 24 hours, as a candidate, Mr. Vargas dropped out and began supporting Mr. Espaillat. Mr. Vargas, who said he was "supervising ten polling places" on election day, claimed he saw widespread instances of Dominican voters being forced to use affidavit ballots. Mr. Espaillat would be the first congressman of Dominican descent and his base of support is within the Dominican community.

"It was a common factor when a person with a Spanish accent--a Dominican Spanish accent, went to vote they were saying, 'You're not on the list.' They were not finding them," Mr. Vargas said. "Then, they were telling them 'OK, you want to vote? Affidavit."

Mr. Vargas also claimed some of the affidavit ballots were being tampered with by poll workers.

"I had a tremendous problem with Cynthia Doty, who is a district leader in that area," Mr. Vargas said. "She was going around with other people cutting the seal on the affidavit ballots and replacing the seal on the affidavit ballots."

In an interview on NY1's Inside City Hall last night, Mr. Rangel said he wasn't following the evolving situation with the results in his race because he was busy in Washington.

“I’m not hearing anything because I’ve been on the floor, I’ve been at legislative meetings, I’ve been at caucuses,” Mr. Rangel said. “Quite frankly, since last night, the New York people have been dealing with the numbers....I’m anxious to analyze what the figures mean and so long as the victory is there, I think I’ll just proceed with my present term and then see what we have to do better or whatever the situation may be.”

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."

Adriano Espaillat and Charlie Rangel debating earlier this month. (Photo: NY1)

Congressman Charlie Rangel made an election day appearance on Good Day New York this morning and he jokingly fretted about the job prospects of his main opponent today, State Senator Adriano Espaillat. Mr. Rangel discussed Mr. Espaillat's employment situation when he was asked why he seems so confident in a race where Mr. Espaillat is seen as a formidable candidate due to the newly redrawn Upper Manhattan congressional district's Latino majority. If elected, Mr. Espaillat would be the first congressman of Dominican descent.

"I'm not working any harder today than I've worked last month, last year or every year since I've been in the Congress. I service my district. I'm at places, I go to community events ive worked with the City Council....This isn't a love affair. I produce and that's what people want from their public officials," said Mr. Rangel, explaining the source of his confidence.

"Besides, I don't even know the people running against me--except one of them," Mr. Rangel said of Mr. Espaillat. "He's a very, very ambitious person and, since he's said that he's not running for any other office, if he loses, I hope I'll be able to find him some employment somewhere."

Mr. Rangel continued by repeating his accusation Mr. Espaillat is hedging his bets in the race by simultaneously circulating petitions to run for reelection to the Senate, where he began serving last year. Mr. Espaillat has countered that charge with an accusation of his own by claiming Mr. Rangel of using 'fake' petitions to smear him.

"He just got on the Senate. I endorsed him for the Senate and he told everybody that's what he wanted to do. A couple of months later, he changes his mind and says he wants to run against me," Mr. Rangel said. "Then he also is filing that he wants to run again for the State Senate. So, he should at least be mature enough to know. Which job does he really want?"

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."