Harlem’s congressional race is becoming all about race.
Rep. Charles Rangel accused chief rival Adriano Espaillat of running entirely on his ethnicity while blasting his record as state senator during a heated debate Friday at WABC-TV.
“I hope somewhere during this debate…to try to share with the listening and watching audience just what the heck has he done besides saying he’s Dominican?” Rangel demanded 14 minutes into the one-hour showdown.
Espaillat shot back by charging that the 22-term congressman was playing dirty politics.
“It really saddens me that after 44 years in Congress — and I say this truly candidly — it saddens me that the congressman has to stoop and lower himself to these types of unfounded attacks,” said Espaillat.
A third candidate in the race, Rev. Michael Walrond, panned both his opponents as “career politicians.”
“We need to transcend pettiness and divisiveness and we need to move forward,” said Walrond, trying to stay above the fierce fray.
Espaillat swatted away Rangel’s punches for much of the combative debate, which touched on crime, job creation, housing, and foreign policy but repeatedly veered back to the candidates’ racial backgrounds.
When the a question came up about affordable housing, Rangel responded by saying he opposed incentives for luxury units.
But then he quickly returned to his theme and again questioned Espaillat’s credentials.
“He wants to be the Jackie Robinson of Dominicans in Congress,” he said. “Jackie was a star before he reached the major leagues and he’s not Jackie.”
Espaillat urged Rangel, who turns 84 on June 11, to take back his comments.
“This is a disservice to your constituency and to this debate, this is not about race,” Espaillat fumed.”You should really apologize.”
Rangel wasn’t finished.
He accused Espaillat of chastising Dominicans who didn’t support him in his previous run against Rangel in in 2012 as “traitors” in campaign literature.
On that charge, Espaillat pleded guilty.
“If a mailer was put out last time, I would certainly say it was the wrong thing to do,” said Espaillat. “Things were said in the heat of the moment from both camps…that is not the way this campaign is going.”
Rangel later defended his remarks, explaining that he believes Espaillat is running because he thought the demographics of the changing district broke in his favor.
“I am so pleased that people see beyond where you were born and they’ve taken into consideration the type of member of Congress I’ve been,” Rangel said.