Assemblyman Guillermo Linares will endorse longtime Congressman Charlie Rangel’s re-election bid tomorrow at noon. Mr. Rangel’s campaign announced the endorsement this evening via an email. Mr. Linares initially pledged to support one of Mr. Rangel’s challengers, State Senator Adriano Espaillat, however, last month, he appeared at an event with Mr. Rangel stoking speculation he might be preparing to switch sides. Read More
Congressman Charlie Rangel will continue his efforts to “solidify” his Latino base when he will roll out the endorsement of former Assemblyman Adam Clayton Powell IV tomorrow.
The two have a long history. Not only did Mr. Rangel defeat Mr. Powell’s father in 1970 to win his seat in Congress–a race that pitted a longtime incumbent against a young upstart that has reminds many of Mr. Rangel’s current run against State Senator Adriano Espaillat–but the Assemblyman challenged Mr. Rangel twice, once in 1994 and again in 2010. Read More
Charlie Rangel will be endorsed Saturday by a host of elected officials from East Harlem, including City Councilwoman Melissa Mark Viverito, State Senator Jose Serrano and Assembly member Robert Rodriguez (who, it should be noted, already endorsed the Congressman.)
The Rangel camp are filling out the stage with a number of electeds closer to his central Harlem base, including State Sen. Bill Perkins–who at one point had been rumored to be making a run for the seat himself–and district leader Keith Lilly and Cordell Cleare. Read More
This morning The New York Post reported that Bill Clinton had decided to stay neutral in Charlie Rangel’s congressional race, after recording a robo-call for the longtime Harlem pol when he was facing a tight re-election in 2010.
This afternoon, Clyde Williams, who served in the Clinton administration, was later a domestic policy adviser to the Clinton Foundation and went on to work for the Democratic National Committee under Barack Obama, sent out a statement touting his own relationship to the former president and thanking him for staying out of the race. Read More
Congressman Charlie Rangel didn’t want to discuss who will succeed him in the House of Representatives.
“Is this an obituary?” he asked during a sometimes combative phone interview on Monday afternoon, which the longtime lawmaker described as a “rough one.”
“I’m 81-years-old, you want me to discuss what happens in three years? At the end of this year plus two. Would that make sense at all?” he asked.
Rather than deciding whom to anoint as heir, the outspokenly liberal octogenarian is facing what could be the closest campaign of his more than forty year career, while simultaneously coping with fading health and the waning power of the political empire he built in Harlem. Read More
Former DNC political director Clyde Williams faced two challenges to the 6,000 petition signatures he obtained to get on the ballot in the congressional race for Upper Manhattan’s 13th district that he blamed on “associates” of the incumbent, Charlie Rangel. Those objections have expired and Mr. Williams said he’s going to be on the ballot without issue.
“Thousands of residents who signed my petitions participated in the electoral process and now their voices will be heard. I will be on the ballot on June 26,” Mr. Williams told The Politicker. “We now enter a new phase of the race and I look forward to continuing to engage voters and share ideas for the future of this community.” Read More
Gabriela Rosa, a senior policy advisor and special assistant to Assemblyman Herman “Denny” Farrell, is preparing to announce an attempt to join her current boss in the State Assembly. According to El Diario’s Roberto Perez, Ms. Rosa will announce her intention to run for the Assembly seat in Upper Manhattan’s 72nd District at a press conference on thursday. Ms. Rosa has also created a Facebook page for her campaign.
“Join me in this exciting journey to bring true change to Washington Heights, Inwood, and Marble Hill. I am a member of this district and I know the problems we face because I live them,” Ms. Rosa wrote on Facebook. Read More
On Monday, the five Democrats vying to represent the 13th District submitted petitions to get on the ballot. Today, objectors filed challenges to some of those petitions and former DNC head Clyde Williams accused the incumbent, Charlie Rangel, of “trying to silence the voices of change.”
“Last night, I learned that associates of Charlie Rangel intend to try to block my access to the ballot,” Mr. Williams wrote on his Facebook page. “Some might say a petition challenge is the sincerest form of flattery. But in fact what my opponents are challenging is the right of the people to be heard – trying to silence the voices of change. I will fight this challenge because I – like so many District residents – share a the desire to change our fortunes and seize our future for the better.” Read More
Ruben Dario Vargas, a self-described “Northern Manhattan community activist” who has run multiple unsuccessful campaigns for public office, is throwing his hat into the crowded campaign for the 13th congressional district, where Charlie Rangel is running for re-election. Based on his past performance running for the seat, Mr. Vargas is unlikely to be a major threat in the race, but his entry will strip State Senator Adriano Espaillat of his status as the only Latino candidate in a district with a majority Latino population. Read More
As Congressman Charles Rangel made his first public appearance after being sidelined by health problems for more than two months, his longtime ally Assemblyman Keith Wright stood in the background. As Mr. Rangel prepares to face a serious threat to his more than forty year congressional career in the form of four primary challengers, rumors have run rampant Mr. Rangel is merely campaigning for election in order to anoint a chosen heir, namely, Mr. Wright. Both Mr. Wright and Mr. Rangel dismissed this rumor at the congressman’s press conference yesterday. Read More
