- The 21-term congressman faced changing demographics and a redrawn district
- Rangel was censured in 2010 after he was found guilty of ethics violations
- Pundits had predicted an end to his political career
(CNN) -- Rep. Charlie Rangel declared victory Tuesday in a Democratic primary to represent a redrawn New York district, capping a tale of political survival for the iconic lawmaker.
Rangel's congressional career spanning more than four decades nearly culminated after a censure on the House floor in 2010.
He thanked supporters at his campaign headquarters in New York after the five-way race for the nomination in his Harlem-area district.
The 21-term congressman faced changing demographics and a redrawn district with more Latino-Americans than African-Americans, a shift that helped his fiercest competition, state Sen. Adriano Espaillat.
Espaillat, 57, a Dominican-American, used his background to court Latino votes and take aim at the 82-year-old Rangel over his long tenure in Washington and his ethics abuses.
On Tuesday, Espaillat sent a note to supporters, thanking them and conceding the race.
"Though we didn't make it to the finish line tonight, the values we fought for and the communities we seek to improve will continue to light a fire in us," he said. "The truth is, even in coming a bit short, we made history."
Rangel, the one-time chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, was censured by the lower chamber in 2010 after he was found guilty of ethics violations.
He failed to pay income taxes for a rental unit in the Dominican Republic, filed misleading financial disclosure reports and set up his campaign office in a building where he lives, among other breaches.
Pundits predicted an end to his political career at the time, pointing to previous ethics problems and the potential of redistricting after the 2010 census.
But the always dapper lawmaker has a core of ardent supporters.
Rangel was among the leading voices in the fight against drug trafficking, pushed for low-income housing tax credits and authored legislation to support urban communities.
He became the first African-American chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee after Democrats won control of the House in 2006.
Despite the new district lines and some recent health problems, Rangel fought hard to keep his seat, squaring off with his opponents in debates and taking them on during campaign stops.
"One of my opponents said that I got the idea that I'm the only person that can do the job, that I'm the smartest person in the world and no one is smart enough to do it. I said that's not so. I'm just smarter than you," Rangel said last week, according to CNN affiliate WCBS.
Hank Sheinkopf, a longtime Democratic strategist in New York, said ahead of Tuesday's vote the results would hinge on turnout, especially given that New York has not held a June primary since 1973.
"We don't know who will turn out beyond people that would normally turn out for Charlie Rangel through organizations that he's used forever," Sheinkopf said Monday. "How could he lose? If none of the people show up who want to keep it a Harlem-based district."
Sheinkopf said Rangel is also potentially helped by an "atrocious" voter turnout track record of the large Dominican-American population. He pushed back against suggestions that Rangel's age or ethics history will hurt him at the ballot box.
If those topics mattered, "they would have toppled him last time," Sheinkopf said. Rangel won re-election in 2010 with 80% of the vote, the lowest support level he received since his first election.
Rangel and Espaillat faced fellow Democrats Joyce Johnson, a business executive; former Rangel intern Craig Schley; and former Bill Clinton aide Clyde Williams to win control of the new 13th district, which stretches from east Harlem to the northwest Bronx.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo endorsed Rangel on Friday, citing his decades of service and ability to "bring things back to the state of New York," in an interview with a state political program.
But New York's three major daily newspapers each endorsed a different one of Rangel's opponents, prompting a fierce defense from the New York City native.
When describing a conversation with a top figure at one of the papers, Rangel said, according to POLITICO, "I looked her in the eye, and I said, 'Just tell me how the editorial board of The New York Times could say that Clyde Williams would be a better representative for my district, my state and my country."
Rangel began his long run in the House in 1970 when he defeated another flamboyant longtime Harlem politician, Rep. Adam Clayton Powell Jr., himself weakened by corruption allegations, in the Democratic primary.
He defeated Powell's son in the 2010 Democratic primary.
Rangel grew up in poverty, was abandoned by his father and lived with an aunt and uncle in the Bronx. The high school dropout enlisted in the Army and was awarded the Bronze Star for valor in the Korean War after he helped rescue 40 men trapped behind Chinese lines.
After the war, he used the G.I. Bill to earn a degree from New York University and a law degree from St. John's.
After serving as an assistant U.S. attorney, he was elected to the New York State Assembly in 1966.
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