One day until the June 26 primary that will change the face of Bronx politics. Despite there being the formality of a general election in November, tomorrow’s Democratic primary will determine who will become the Bronx’s newest representative in Congress. That’s because no Republican candidate has a chance against whichever Democratic candidate emerges victorious in the newly constituted 13th Congressional District, which stretches from El Barrio into the northwest Bronx and shares a common blue blood.
Will 82-ear-old incumbent Charlie Rangel hang on to his new/old seat or will one of his challengers end the Harlem legend’s long string of election victories dating back to the Nixon administration? Will Adriano Espaillat’s hard work pounding the pavement in the Bronx pay off and make the state senator the country’s first Dominican-born representative in Congress? Or will wonky Clyde Williams, whose candidacy was jump-started by two big daily newspaper endorsements last week, have the “grassroots” support to pull off an upset? These are the questions that will be answered at the polls and tomorrow night when the results are announced. We’re going to press late tomorrow night in order to get results for our print edition, which comes out later this week. Get out and vote!
(Later today, we’ll post mini profiles of all the NY-13 candidates and re-post our voter guide to prepare you for tomorrow.)
The Times’ Kate Taylor breaks down “a frenzied” day of campaigning on Sunday. Bronx Assemblyman Jose Rivera held an outdoor rally for Rangel at Fordham Plaza on Sunday afternoon as the octogenarian cracked jokes about his age and tried to puff up his support from Latino elected officials, including Rivera and Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. Meanwhile, Espaillat attended a church service in Kingsbridge before attending a Jewish community festival in Washington Heights with ex-Bronx BP and mayoral candidate Freddy Ferrer. (According to Espaillat’s campaign manager Ibrahim Khan, Espaillat also hit up a Scandanavian festival in Ft. Tryon Park, was a guest on something called the Rafael Osario show, made phone calls and then attended a fundraiser.)
Rangel blasted the Times for endorsing Clyde Williams, Capital reports. Video courtesy of Capital, below:
The Post says if Rangel wins, he would be the first Congressman to be re-elected after being formally censured for ethics violations since 1983. (This is how the Post sums up his ethics violations: “Rangel was found guilty of soliciting donations on congressional stationery for a center at City College, failing to pay taxes on his Dominican Republic villa and maintaining a rent-stabilized apartment as a campaign office.” Rangel has formally challenged that censure.)
Espaillat is getting support from former-Rangel aide Vince Morgan as well as the New York State Higher Education PAC, reports Celeste Katz.
The National Journal says defeating Rangel will be a tough task and points out some of the incumbents advantages: The new district is now 55 percent Latino, but it also added 24,500 new African-American residents; “Even though Rangel only won 51 percent in the 2010 primary, he actually won more primary votes (over 26,000) than all but one House candidate in the entire state.”; In the 15 polling sites with the highest turnout, Rangel won 60 percent of the vote, which shows his campaign’s ability to get his supporters to the polls.
Politico (via NBC) writes that Rangel is responding to his stiffest challenge yet with “unexpected grit” and that Espaillat is embracing his underdog role. In the article, ubiquitous (at least in media stories) political consultant Basil Smikle makes his prediction: “There is a lot of enthusiasm and support for Adriano, and that will make the race close, but I think Rangel pulls it out.”
Ken Rudin, on NPR, compares Rangel’s insurgent victory over ethics-scandal-marred incumbent Adam Clayton Powell in 1970 to this year’s race. This time, of course, it’s Rangel fending off challengers. Rangel won that five-candidate primary by just over 200 votes.
WNYC’s Colby Hamilton has more from the Rangel rally in the Bronx yesterday, which was attended by an estimated 100 people. Here’s a quote from Rangel’s House colleague Jose Serrano:
“Charlie Rangel is a special human being,” Serrano said, using the Latin pronunciation of “Ran-hill.” “And I’ll tell you something: whenever the Bronx, whenever New York City, whenever our country has needed something, he has been there.”
The Washington Post says tomorrow’s NY-13 primary is one of the 5 things to watch this week in Congress.
The Daily News caught up with Clyde Williams on the campaign trail a few days ago. He says he’s lost eight pounds walking the streets of the district getting to know voters.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo endorsed Rangel, saying “his seniority is an asset to the state.”
In its wrap-up of competitive primary day races, The Daily News mistakenly refers to the 15th Congressional District race when talking about the Rangel-Espaillat-Williams-Johnson-Schley Bronx/Manhattan race that is actually the 13th Congressional District. (It used to be the 15th.)
In other Bronx news:
An altercation in University Heights left an off-duty police officer and two other men wounded after a shoot out. [Times]
Bronx cops are looking for a man they say stabbed his girlfriend, as well as her teenage daughter and niece. [Daily News]
Lehman College graduates say the Bronx school’s child care program made all the difference. [Daily News]
And finally, this is just cool. Vada Vasquez, the teenager who was shot in the head with a stray bullet three years ago, graduated from high school. She received the Perseverence Award. [Dail News]
Rangel apparently thinks the Bronx is across the Hudson from Manhattan:
“People talk about this being a new district. But in terms of the dreams and the aspirations of your brothers and sisters on the other side of the Hudson, our dreams for America are all the same,” Rangel said.