WASHINGTON – Rep. Charlie Rangel is eyeing a 22nd term in Congress.
The eager 80-year-old Harlem Democrat filed a 2012 statement of candidacy this week with the Federal Elections Commission – more than a year before the filing deadline.
Rangel’s office did not immediately respond to questions about why he filed so early.
“The filing means what it says, that he is running for re-election,” Rangel spokesman Bob Liff said.
Rangel, who last year suffered a humiliating House censure for multiple ethics violations, has recently talked candidly about his age, prompting speculation that he was headed for retirement.
He even floated the names of some possible successors, including state Sen. Adriano Espaillat and assemblymen Keith Wright and Robert Rodriguez.
The House voted 333-79 on Dec. 2 to censure Rangel, making him the first congressman in 27 years to endure the humiliating rebuke by his colleagues. Only expulsion from Congress would be more severe.
An ethics panel last November convicted Rangel on 11 of 12 charges after a two-year investigation found a “pattern” of rule-breaking, including dodging taxes, concealing assets and misusing his post to raise money for the City College center that bears his name — all first reported by The Post.