Rep. Charles Rangel made history in the1970 Congressional election by defeating Adam Clayton Powell Jr but now the time has come for the next generation of politicians to step up. Rangel is retiring after a historic run in Congress and local residents will be voting today to see who will be representing upper Manhattan. Keith Wright has been endorsed by Rangel and appears to be one of the prime candidates for the open seat but recent shifts in demographics could bring a different sort of change to Harlem.
The 13th Congressional District now includes East Harlem, West Harlem, Central Harlem, Washington Heights along with parts of the Bronx. With that in mind, hispanic voters currently make the majority of the population at
52 percent and State Senator Adrian Espaillat nearly wrangled the seat from Rangel in the past. An article in Reuters points out that gentrification is one of issues at hand but also that the newcomers might be the potential swing vote for Harlem's future:
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