Once again, the incumbents in New York managed to hold the day. But before I tackle the Charles Rangel v. Adriano Espaillat race, there's a few other races of note to run through.
Statewide, there was but one race. It was for the GOP nomination to run against Kristen Gillibrand for the US Senate. Wendy Long, a New York City lawyer, handily defeated Rep. Bob Turner and Nassau County Controller Robert Maragos. Turner, one might recall, won the seat vacated by Anthony Weiner. Long will face an uphill battle against Gillibrand, who has a massive war chest available to her. New Yorkers deserve to get at least a competitive race to press Gillibrand on issues ranging from 9/11 first responder compensation, funding for transportation and infrastructure, and economic development upstate.
Grace Meng won the race for NY6 over Rory Lancman, a seat that was vacated by the retirement of Rep. Gary Ackerman.
In one of the most watched races, Charles Barron was handily defeated by Hakeem Jeffries for the NY8 House seat. It wasn't even close, but that's not stopping Barron from demanding a recount.
Guess Barron wasn't satisfied with losing, he wants to double down on the moonbattery.
He thinks he "won" because nearly every politician and their mother in the NYC and NYS Democratic party essentially came out to campaign for Jeffries. Barron thinks he accomplished something by getting Gov. Andrew Cuomo to robo call for Jeffries. Others backing Jeffries included former city Comptroller Bill Thompson, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, and Council Speaker Christine Quinn, whose staffers worked on Jeffries’ behalf.
The thing is that they all understood that Barron wasn't a suitable candidate for Congress (or dog catcher) and wanted to make sure he didn't get a chance. Even though the UFT chose to stay out of the race and DC-37 came out in support of Barron because Barron opposes charter schools, the turnout didn't favor Barron and Jeffries got the job done.
Now, as for Rangel v. Espaillat. It was supposed to be much closer than the final tally. In fact, many were predicting that Espaillat would win because of the changed demographics of the district due to redistricting. Yet, Rangel showed once again that his get-out-the-vote machine can deliver on election day. He's managed to hang on to win 45% to 40%.
Despite being censured by Congress and a litany of tax and ethics violations that should have sent him packing from Congress (and he lost his chairmanship of the House Ways and Means Committee), Rangel continues to be sent back to Washington by the voters.
Rangel will serve as long as he's willing or healthy to do so. Nothing will stop him, not even scandals that would have laid low many other politicians.
Indeed, he continues to garner the support of New York politicians, ranging from Ed Koch to Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Mike Bloomberg.
Come November, Rangel is all but expected to win the seat he has already held for 21 consecutive terms. For many in Harlem, he's the only Congressional representative they have known.
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