Rangel dead at 94

Former Congressman Charlie Rangel died Monday.  Rangel was a longtime congressman representing Harlem in New York City, however he was born in Accomack County.

While Rangel spent his political life in New York City, he had deep ties to the Eastern Shore.  Rangel’s mother was a Wharton.  He was born in the Ticktown Rd area near Accomac and spent summers in his youth working on his uncle’s farm which was located north of the Whispering Pines and went as far as the current Health Dept. complex.

Rangel relayed the story of his summers on the Eastern Shore in his book entitled “And I haven’t had a bad day since.”

According to Wikipedia, in 1970, Rangel ran for election to the U.S. House of Representatives, challenging long-time incumbent Congressman Adam Clayton Powell Jr., in the Democratic primary in New York’s 18th congressional district.^[5] Powell had been an iconic, charismatic, and flamboyant figure^[2][5] who had become embroiled in an ethics controversy in 1967, lost his seat, and then regained it in 1969 due to the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Powell v. McCormack.^[46] In a field with five candidates Rangel focused on criticizing Powell’s frequent absences from Congress.^[2] In the June primary Rangel defeated Powell by 150 votes out of around 25,000 cast.^[5] Powell tried to take legal action to overturn the result claiming over 1,000 ballots were improper votes^[44] but was unsuccessful. Powell also failed to get on the ballot as an independent. With both Democratic and Republican backing, Rangel won the November 1970 general election He was well respected and moved into leadership as  the first black Chairman  of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee and created the Congressional Black Caucus.  Rangel was often seen on television in the 1980s and 90s.  He spent  40 years representing his district.