Cuomo Endorses Rangel in Democratic Primary Race

Mr. Cuomo cited Mr. Rangel’s decades of service in Washington in arguing for his election to a 22nd term.

“He has seniority, he knows the system,” the governor, a fellow Democrat, said in an interview on “Capital Tonight,” a political program on the upstate cable network YNN.

Mr. Cuomo also said: “He’s been very good at bringing things back to the state of New York, which is a big part of what the Congress does.”

“And,” he added, “I think he is best suited not just for the district, but for his state. His seniority is a major asset for this state.”

For months, Mr. Cuomo told reporters that he would not talk about political subjects until after the conclusion of the legislative session. It ended on Thursday; the governor offered his endorsement of Mr. Rangel on Friday.

Mr. Cuomo also endorsed Assemblyman Hakeem S. Jeffries, who is running for the seat currently held by Representative Edolphus Towns of Brooklyn. Mr. Towns is retiring.

The governor has worked with Mr. Jeffries, most recently on a proposal to cut down on low-level marijuana arrests in New York City. The proposal died in the recently concluded legislative session, but Mr. Cuomo has said he will continue to pursue it.

Mr. Jeffries’s opponent, Councilman Charles Barron, ran for governor in 2010 to protest what he called a lack of diversity in state politics, and he heckled Mr. Cuomo at a dinner for minority lawmakers last year.

Mr. Cuomo also urged the re-election of Representative Nydia M. Velázquez of Brooklyn, who was a co-chairwoman of both his campaign for governor in 2010 and his transition team.

Ms. Velázquez is being challenged by Councilman Erik M. Dilan, who is backed by the Brooklyn Democratic chairman, Vito J. Lopez, and two others.

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Primary Challenge to Rangel Turns Into a War of Endorsements

The incumbent, Representative Charles B. Rangel, and his most prominent primary opponent, State Senator Adriano Espaillat, have been engaged in a duel of endorsements in recent weeks, inviting reporters to City Hall, Harlem and the Bronx to hear their newest pledges of support.

Endorsements, analysts say, do not make much difference to voters, but the frequency of the announcements points to the peculiar dynamic in this race. Mr. Rangel, 81, who has been in Congress since 1971, is trying to signal to donors, the news media and the city’s political class that despite health issues and ethics concerns he is still going strong; Mr. Espaillat, in turn, is trying to show that Mr. Rangel has lost influential support.

“For Adriano, his endorsements are meant to show that he is getting traction, he’s building momentum, and that he himself is able to snatch away support from Charlie,” said Basil A. Smikle Jr., a political consultant who is not working for either candidate.

“For Charlie, it’s more of, ‘I still have support in this community, and the institutions that have been around, that people know, still support me.”

The endorsements also serve to remind the news media and voters that this year’s primary for federal offices is unusually early in New York: June 26. Mr. Rangel and Mr. Espaillat are both Democrats, and they will face each other in the primary, along with several other candidates. The district, which runs from Harlem to the northwest Bronx, is overwhelmingly Democratic, so the winner of the primary is expected to go on to win the general election in November.

John Gutierrez, an instructor in Latin American and Latino studies at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, described the endorsements as mostly “inside baseball” that would have little effect, unless they came with significant money and organizational support.

But he suggested that, for Mr. Rangel, the stream of announcements might serve as a substitute for more laborious campaigning that, because of his age and serious back problems, is more challenging this year.

“He’s not going to be at train stations, he’s not going to be visiting senior centers, he’s not going to be doing all of the retail politics that Adriano is, frankly, very, very good at,” Mr. Gutierrez said, adding, “Maybe for Charlie the endorsements sort of serve as an ‘in lieu of’ for campaigning.”

Mr. Espaillat has gathered the endorsements of, among others, two former Bronx borough presidents, Fernando Ferrer and Adolfo Carrion, Jr.; Councilman G. Oliver Koppell of the Bronx; a former congressman, Herman Badillo; and a state senator, Gustavo Rivera of the Bronx. Mr. Rangel has been endorsed by the current Bronx borough president, Ruben Diaz, Jr.; a Bronx congressman, Jose E. Serrano; and several members of the State Senate, the Assembly and the New York City Council. On Wednesday, Mr. Rangel was endorsed by Adam Clayton Powell IV — an endorsement rich with symbolism, because Mr. Rangel had unseated Mr. Powell’s father, Adam Clayton Powell Jr., in 1970, and the younger Mr. Powell had himself run against Mr. Rangel twice. On Friday, Mr. Rangel is expected to be endorsed by Assemblyman Guillermo Linares of Manhattan, whose support is significant because he, like Mr. Espaillat, is Dominican-American. Conspicuously, some prominent officials who have endorsed Mr. Rangel in the past appear to be sitting this year’s race out. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who taped campaign messages for Mr. Rangel two years ago, said recently that he had not yet made up his mind whether to get involved. And the White House spokesman, Jay Carney, when asked whether President Obama supported Representative Rangel, said “I’ll have to get back to you on that.” He did not.

Asked on Wednesday about the significance of endorsements, Mr. Rangel recalled some of the endorsements that he had received in recent years, including some in 2010, when he was under scrutiny for ethical lapses.

“In recent years, it has been a campaign that’s been endorsed by the mayor, the comptroller, the governors, and outstanding public officials from across the country,” he said.

“The endorsement announcements have highlighted a significant different in resources between the campaigns.

Wherever Mr. Rangel appears, a crowd of supporters materializes to hold signs and chant his name. When he announced the endorsement by Mr. Diaz, two dozen people stood behind him on courthouse steps, holding an arc of red, white and blue balloons. And when he was endorsed by Mr. Serrano, a group of men arrayed behind him on the City Hall steps responded defensively when a blogger asked an unwelcome question about Mr. Rangel’s house in the Dominican Republic.

“Charlie Rangel is the man! Charlie Rangel is the man!” they began chanting, drowning out further questions.

Mr. Espaillat, by contrast, is usually accompanied by only a few aides. A news conference in the Bronx on Monday to announce his endorsement by Councilman Koppell was so sparsely attended that it took place in a restaurant booth.

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‘Super PAC’ Backs Adriano Espaillat in House Race Against Charles Rangel

The group, called the Campaign for Primary Accountability, has received most of its financing from a few businessmen with histories of donating to Republican causes, but it describes itself as nonpartisan and says its mission is to defeat longtime Congressional incumbents on the right and the left.

The group’s spokesman, Curtis Ellis, said its aim was to counterbalance the advantages enjoyed by incumbents, which, he said, made them less answerable to their constituents.

“We call ourselves ‘the equalizer,’ ” Mr. Ellis said.

The group got involved in Mr. Rangel’s race because it believed that he was vulnerable and that Mr. Espaillat was “a real challenger,” Mr. Ellis said.

“If you look at the support that Mr. Espaillat has been able to attract — that, combined with our own survey research — is what tells us that there is an opening here,” he said.

Mr. Ellis did not specify how much the group planned to spend in the race, but he said it generally spent “in the six-figure range” in House races. He said the money would most likely be spent on direct mail, online advertising, voter outreach and targeted ethnic media buys.

“Congressman Rangel, for all he has done, has become the model of what happens when incumbents get too comfortable with the special interests that operate in Washington,” Mr. Ellis said.

The PAC’s decision to assist Mr. Espaillat was first reported by the State of Politics blog.

A spokeswoman for Mr. Rangel’s campaign, Ronnie Sykes, said in a statement: “You can learn a lot about an elected official by who their enemies are. These conservatives know that the congressman is one of the most effective legislators in Congress and is a progressive champion.”

Mr. Espaillat is the most prominent of several Democratic candidates hoping to defeat Mr. Rangel in a primary on June 26. Mr. Rangel, 81, has long been one of the most powerful black politicians in the country, but several factors — including an ethics scandal, a redrawn district that is now majority Latino and back problems that hospitalized him this year — have made the race appear competitive.

Mr. Rangel returned to Washington on Monday for the first time in several months. He sat in the front row of the House as fellow Democrats greeted him with hugs and handshakes, and colleagues held a reception in his honor on Monday evening.

Earlier in the day, President Obama’s spokesman, Jay Carney, appeared to hesitate when asked if the president was going to support Mr. Rangel’s re-election.

“I’ll have to get back to you on that,” Mr. Carney said.

In a radio interview on Tuesday, Mr. Espaillat was asked by Fredric U. Dicker, the state editor of The New York Post, about the changing demographics in the district and whether his campaign would emphasize ethnic themes.

“It’s really a response to the needs of the constituents across the district — not just the Latinos, but, you know, African-Americans, you know, Asians, whites,” Mr. Espaillat responded, adding that everyone “really wants a change.”

“When Charlie Rangel got elected back in 1970, the year before, man walked on the moon,” Mr. Espaillat, 57, said. “The Mets won a championship, the first championship; Joe Namath was throwing touchdown passes for the Jets; and Nixon was president. So that was a long time ago, and that district has really evolved into a new district, a very diverse district.”

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