Winding up what he described as his final race, Rep. Charles Rangel said Tuesday that political leaders and union bosses who abandoned him for rival Adriano Espaillat in the fierce Democratic primary “made one hell of a mistake.”
“People didn’t support me this time not because I wasn’t the best qualified and this is so important, they didn’t support me because they thought it wasn’t in their best future interests, not to support me,” Rangel said during one of several campaign stops before the polls closed.
The 84-year-old congressman said his opponents also calculated that he wasn’t up to the challenge –physically and mentally.
“They made one hell of a mistake,” Rangel added, suggesting he wasn’t about to forgive and forget if he gets a 23rd term.
Espaillat, a state senator who narrowly lost to Rangel two years ago, attracted attracted support from a slew of Rangel defectors, including the teachers’ union, the transit workers’ union, city Comptroller Scott Stringer and City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito.
The Working Families Family also lined up with the challenger — leading Mayor de Blasio, who is close to the party, to stay neutral in public. In East Harlem, Rangel’s strong name recognition worked to his advantage.
“I voted for Rangel for many years. I’m just voting for him again,” said Patatra DeJesus, 91, outside the PS 206 polling site at East 120th Street and the FDR Drive. “For so many years I see that he does what he says he’s going to do.”
But in Washington Heights, Espaillat clearly had the advantage.
“Espaillat comes from my country [Dominican Republican] and he does very good things for the area. We need a representative who respects my people,” said Hilda Moniker, who voted at PS 198.
A smiling Rangel exuded confidence while stumping with Manhattan Borough President Gail Brewer at a subway stop in Washington Heights.
He conceded the rematch with Espaillat was the toughest campaign fight of his career.
There were two other candidates in the race. Harlem preacher Michael Walrond of Corinthian Baptist Church and Bronx activist Yolanda Garcia.
Rangel claimed that the mayor told him in private he was backing Walrond.
“He favors, as he claimed to me, Reverend Walrond,” Rangel said on the Geraldo Rivera radio show. “He has a very close relationship with the pastor.”
Rangel pledged he would retire in 2016. But even his wife, Alama, wasn’t so sure.
“He promised me he that he is going to take me to Paris right after this is over. . . . This is the last one, I think.”
For his part, Espaillat, who has served in Albany for 18 years, said it was time to “take [Rangel]out” and usher in change.
“This is an important vote, a vote for change. To break from the past, to turn the page, to write a new chapter in the history of this district. I believe this election will reshape New York City and New York state, politics if not the nation’s,” said Espaillat who voted at PS 198 in Washington Heights.
As befitting of the rancorous fight, a Rangel campaign staffer equated Espaillat’s “take out” remark as telling people to “kill” the congressman. The Espaillat campaign quickly shot back that Rangel aides took the remarks out of context.“Nothing against the congressman. I have great respect for him what is part of the past and we’re part of the future,” Espaillat said.
Espaillat continued touting his Dominican roots.
“I came to this country with no papers,” he said.
A Siena College poll last weel showed Rangel leading his chief rival 47 percent to 33 percent. But Espaillat said if his supporters come out “we will win by a comfortable margin.”
Two years ago, Espaillat complained the Board of Elections mishandled his initial face-off with Rangel — including incomplete primary election night reporting that undercounted votes from heavily Dominican polling sites. He also charged there was an inadequate number of Spanish-speaking poll workers.
Board of Elections officials insisted they were better prepared this time to handle problems at the 130 polling places in the 13th district which extends from the upper West Side to The Bronx.
Rangel served as the powerful chairman of the House and Ways Means Committee when Democrats retook control of the House in 2007.
But his influence dimmed in 2010 after he was censured for a slew of ethics violations that included not paying taxes on his Dominican Republic villa, soliciting donations for a City College center in his name on congressional letterhead and misusing rent-stabilized apartments for a campaign office. Amid the probe, he lost his perch as head of the powerful committee.
The make-up of his congressional district was overhauled in 2012 following reapportionment — changing from a heavily black voting district to a majority Hispanic one. The revamp left him potentially vulnerable to a strong Latino challenger.