Posts Tagged ‘congress’
Final vote tally in District 13 primary still unclear
If Rep. Charles Rangel thought he was finished with the toughest re-election campaign of his life on Tuesday night, he may have been mistaken. As results have continued to trickle in, his margin of victory has shrunk significantly, and the possibility of a recount, however remote, has increased.
When the New York Times called the race for Rangel on Tuesday night, the congressman was beating his main challenger for the District 13 seat, State Senator Adriano Espaillat, by about 20 percentage points. Rangel finished the night with a narrower 5.4 percentage point lead, and that lead has since dipped to 2.6 percent, with many votes yet to be counted.
According to unofficial results from The Associated Press, the longtime Harlem Congressman has 16,898 votes to Espaillat’s 15,823 votes—a difference of only 1,075. That tally also doesn’t include 32 of the district’s 506 precincts, or any absentee ballots. More »
Wrangling up a victory
With elections for seats in the United States House of Representatives coming up just a few months from now, senior Staff Writers Jillian Kumagai, Gina Lee, and Casey Tolan took on a series on Rep. Charlie Rangel’s race to win his title as the representative for New York’s 13th Congressional District.
The first part of the series ran in today’s paper, and tackled the transformations of both Rangel and New York during the past 41 years he has served as Congressman:
Over his 21 terms in office, Rangel has advocated a vast range of policies, among them cracking down on drug trafficking, promoting economic empowerment, and reinstating the military draft. His legislation created nine so-called “empowerment zones,” including the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone Development Corporation, a nonprofit organization that created jobs and assisted small businesses.
As the third-most-senior congressman, Rangel has been in a position that allows him to impact the district, the city, and even the entire country.
Why not chronicle Rangel’s history in a different way– maybe through his most quotable moments over the years?
1. His quick reaction to President Bush: “I really think that he shatters the myth of white supremacy once and for all; it shows that, in this great country, anybody can become president.”
2.”You can no longer raise money and support those people in Washington and say you’re not one of them. It’s like being half pregnant. Either you’re in or you’re out. More »
Meet the new boss, even more liberal than the old boss
In today’s paper, Jillian Kumagai reports that New York’s redistricting plan has resulted in new congressional district boundaries—meaning that Rep. Charles Rangel will no longer be our representative:
Although there was talk that Rangel’s district—which is being renumbered from 15 to 13—would reach as far north as Mount Vernon, the district will remain centered in Harlem, with the addition of parts of the Bronx.
Additionally, the northern boundary of the Upper West Side’s district will move several blocks north, bringing Morningside Heights and Columbia out of Rangel’s district and into the district that spans most of the west side of Manhattan. Currently represented by Rep. Jerrold Nadler, CC ’69, that district will stretch down the west side, including all of Battery Park City and parts of western Brooklyn.
Say goodbye to the old boss and hello to the new boss. Like Rangel, he’s a die-hard Democrat. Also like Rangel, he’s something of an interesting character. More »
Reporting from D.C.: Rangel taking heat
On Thursday, Representative Charles B. Rangel faced several violations brought forth by a House ethics committee. Rangel is still running for reelection this fall, though he stepped down (temporarily, he said) from his chairmanship of the House Ways and Means Committee in March. Spec news deputy Kim Kirschenbaum was in Washington reporting, and has the full story here.