Charles Rangel has heard the chatter and knows that even though he may be the dean of the New York Congressional delegation and one of the longest serving congressmen in the country, some observers think it’s time to step down. But Rangel, 83, announced yesterday that he isn’t ready to bow out just yet, saying he’s “fired up” to seek a 23rd term and continue his role as a defender of President Obama’s agenda.
“I’m full of fire and ready to go,” Rangel, a Democrat, told BET.com. “I don’t know of any president who wanted to do more for the country in terms of the things that are important to me than President Obama. I want to continue to play a role in this president’s agenda.”
He added: “The president is working to make sure kids have an education, that the nation has economic growth and that Americans have decent health care coverage.”
Rangel had to give up his chairmanship of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee after being the subject of an ethics investigation—though he would have lost the chairmanship anyway when Republicans took control of the House in the last midterm election. Rangel actually sued to force the House to overturn the censure he received, but a federal judge recently dismissed the lawsuit. Rangel claims the charges against him were politically motivated. He has said all along that allegations against him, such as failure to pay taxes on rental income for a Caribbean vacation, were simply the result of bookkeeping lapses.
He perhaps was alluding to these problems when he wrote in a New York Daily News editorial, “I may not be a perfect human being, but I believe I am best equipped — by my experience, my knowledge of Washington, my seniority, my passion for serving the people of our district — to help the President achieve his agenda over the next two years. I still have unfinished business. Charlie Rangel is still fired up. That is why I am running for my 23rd term in office.”
Rangel had to fight for his seat in the 2012 election, when state Sen. Adriano Espaillat challenged Rangel in a newly redrawn district that is now majority Latino in Espaillat’s bid to be the first Dominican-American member of Congress. Though many observers expected Rangel to lose, he beat Espaillat in the Democratic primary, 46 to 39 percent, with other candidates splitting the remainder.
While many African-American politicians in New York have been discussing a possible successor to Rangel for two years, Rangel isn’t ready to go. In fact, Rangel said he had met with a number of prospective candidates for the congressional seat.
“All of them have indicated to me that they would be in better shape if they had more time to prepare for the race,” Rangel said. “And they encouraged me to go forward and run.”
But Rangel didn’t meet with Espaillat.
“New Yorkers think it’s time for a change,” Espaillat told NY1 News. “Someone in the papers called it today a civic renaissance in New York City where our people want new government. They want a new model of government. They want a new model of leadership.”
Though Espaillat said he won’t make an announcement until 2014, sources told NY1 that he’s running.
In perhaps a prelude to the primary, which would be held in June, Rangel wondered aloud how Espaillat could hold his state Senate seat and also run for Congress.
“Some of you may recall that the last time he challenged me, he said he wasn’t running for the Senate,” Rangel said. “He’s in the Senate now.”
