Rep. Charles Rangel, a Democrat who has represented New York's Harlem for more than four decades, said on Thursday he is “fired up” and will seek a 23rd term in Congress.
In an op-ed column for the New York Daily News, the 83-year-old congressman vowed to do battle with congressional Republicans “who are playing political games to defeat and discredit” President Obama.
“I may not be a perfect human being, but I believe I am best equipped — by my experience, my knowledge of Washington, my seniority, my passion for serving the people of our district — to help the president achieve his agenda over the next two years,” Rangel wrote. “I still have unfinished business. Charlie Rangel is still fired up. That is why I am running for my 23rd term in office.”
In 2010, an ethics scandal dealt a devastating blow to the once-powerful congressman's career. Rangel gave up the chairmanship of the House Ways and Means Committee amid the ethics investigation, and was eventually censured by the House of Representatives. It was the first such public rebuke of a congressman in nearly three decades.
Rangel has long held that the complaints against him — including failure to pay taxes on rental income for his Caribbean vacation home and soliciting donations for a policy center bearing his name — were politically motivated.
A federal judge earlier this month dismissed a lawsuit by Rangel seeking to overturn the censure.
Rangel, first elected in 1970, is third on the House's seniority list — behind Democratic Reps. John Dingell and John Conyers, both of Michigan.
