This is Rep. Charlie Rangel’s last hurrah.
The 83-year-old Democrat is preparing to announce that this will be his last campaign for re-election, and that he will retire from Congress in 2016 as President Obama is leaving the White House, Harlem insiders told me.
“Rangel is hoping that he will get more support for re-election by promising this will be his last term — and that party leaders will allow him to step down in dignity then, rather than backing a challenger now,” said one source.
Rangel, who has represented Harlem since 1971, was barely re-elected in 2012 after his district was redrawn, making it 55 percent Hispanic and 27 percent African-American (as opposed to 80 percent African-American before). Rangel defeated State Senator Adriano Espaillat in the primary by less than a thousand votes.
Espaillat is gearing up to run again, and his supporters will surely question Rangel’s motives. “Promising to retire is a stunt,” said one. “He can always change his mind.”