(AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)
After a bruising campaign fight for a primary election that was still too close to call into the wee hours of the morning, Rep. Charles Rangel (D, New York) emerged victorious.
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Reports the New York Daily News:
Rep. Charles Rangel, the Lion of Harlem, roared one last time Tuesday night, beating back a fierce challenge from state Sen. Adriano Espaillat to claim a 23rd and final term in Congress.
With 100% of the precincts reporting, Rangel had 47.4% of the vote to 43.6% for Espaillat, a margin of about 1,800 ballots in the 13th District Democratic Primary, unofficial returns showed.
The victory allows Rangel, 84, the face of Harlem politics for nearly a half century and at one time the most powerful elected black official in the country, to end his political career on his own terms.
He does not face a Republican challenger on the ballot in November, and is almost guaranteed to return to Congress.
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