
(Photo: Julie Jacobson, AP)
Veteran Rep. Charles Rangel was declared the winner of his nail-biter Democratic primary in New York, according to the Associated Press.
Rangel, a 22-term congressman, was leading Adriano Espaillat by about 1,800 votes on Wednesday with 99% of the vote counted, according to unofficial returns posted by the New York City Board of Elections.
Absentee ballots will be accepted through next Tuesday, and then an unofficial canvass will begin the next day. The AP said it declared Rangel the winner because “the number of absentee and provisional ballots were not sufficient for Espaillat to make up the difference.”
Rangel was confident that he won when he addressed his supporters in Harlem on Tuesday night. “This was your victory,” he said. “This is your congressman. And you can rest assured all I will be doing is thinking about you and bringing resources back home.”
Source: USA Today | Catalina Camia