Vince Morgan, a former Rangel aide and rival, endorses Adriano Espaillat against his old boss
Vince Morgan. Morgan 4 Congress via flickr
9:52 am Apr. 10, 20121
Hours before Rep. Charlie Rangel's first public appearance since February, one of the congressman's rivals dropped out of the race and backed State Senator Adriano Espaillat in the primary for Rangel's seat.
Vince Morgan, a local banker who previously signaled he wasn't campaigning anymore, said the district "needs someone who can unite us and move our neighborhood forward."
Morgan once worked for Rangel and, like district leader Joyce Johnson, ran for the seat in 2010. He clashed with another candidate in the race, former presidential aide Clyde Williams, saying Williams' strategy was to have "fancy cocktail parties" and that he had no roots in the district.
Morgan himself wasn't a huge vote-getter and raised a modest amount of money, and the end of his candidacy doesn't by itself have a great impact on the shape of the race.
But anything that shrinks the field of candidates against Rangel could, potentially, consolidate the anti-Rangel vote.
Potentially consolidate? Funny. If you consolidated all of the votes against Rangel in his last primary, he still would have won.
Charles Rangel INCUMBENT 22,418 51%
Adam Clayton Powell 10,353 23%
Joyce S. Johnson 5,645 13%
Ruben Dario Vargas 2,392 5%
Jonathan B. Tasini 2,389 5%
Vincent Morgan 1,154 3%