Politics / May 29, 2025

How Charlie Rangel Defied His Party to Save New York From the Reactionary Right

The late congressman’s upending of New York politics by choosing progressivism over partisanship offers a lesson for today.

John Nichols
Charlie Rangel in Harlem in 1970.

Charlie Rangel in Harlem in 1970.

(Bettmann via Getty Images)

Former US representative Charles Rangel’s death at age 94 has inspired long obituaries recalling the legacy of the Harlem Democrat, who served 46 years in the US House, cofounded the Congressional Black Caucus, chaired the powerful Ways and Means Committee, shaped the character of the Congress and was censured by it, earned a Purple Heart for his wounds and the Bronze Star with Valor for his bravery during the Korean War, and later emerged as one of the boldest critics of George W. Bush’s Iraq War. Yet one of the most remarkable maneuvers of Rangel’s long political career has gone mostly unmentioned—perhaps because it does not fit easily within the partisan narratives of American politics.

In 1969, with Richard Nixon, a Republican determined to exploit unrest and racial division for partisan advantage, in the White House, and conservative Democrats (seemingly influenced by the presidential bids of Alabama segregationist George Wallace) scheming to pull the party to the right, New York was at the center of the fight for the soul of American politics. Rangel, then a young state legislator who had caught the attention of Democratic leaders that year with an audacious if ultimately unsuccessful primary bid for City Council president, suddenly found himself in a position to push back against the politics of reaction in New York. But he could not do so from within his own Democratic Party.

The city’s 1969 mayoral race produced June primary results that suggested New York was veering to the right. John Lindsay, the liberal Republican incumbent mayor who was up for reelection, was defeated in the GOP primary by state Senator John Marchi, a conservative with ties to the Nixon White House. On the Democratic side, the most right-wing candidate, City Comptroller Mario Procaccino, beat more liberal contenders—including former mayor Robert Wagner Jr., Bronx Borough President Herman Badillo and novelist Norman Mailer—with a campaign that attacked “limousine liberals” (a term he is actually credited with inventing), exploited opposition to desegregation and open housing, and employed “law-and-order” dog whistles to bring the worst of national politics to the nation’s largest city. Alabama’s Wallace hailed the results from the Big Apple, claiming that Procaccino and Marchi engaged in the same sort of campaigning that he perpetuated in the South, “except that they had New York accents.”

After his primary defeat, Lindsay decided to keep running as an advocate for civil rights, a proponent of anti-poverty programs, a foe of the Vietnam War, and the only prominent progressive in the field. He had the endorsement and ballot line of New York’s small Liberal Party, and he hoped to swing enough progressive Black, Puerto Rican, and Jewish voters away from the Democratic line to prevail. But in an overwhelmingly Democratic city, and with two Republicans potentially splitting the vote, Procaccino was the clear front-runner. Pundits said he could win simply by keeping most of his party’s multiracial, multiethnic voter base on his side.

But Charlie Rangel was not about to side with Mario Procaccino.

Shortly after the primary election, the Harlem legislator upended the city’s political calculus by becoming the first prominent Black Democratic elected official to support Lindsay’s reelection bid.

Forty-six years later, New York faces another definitive mayoral election, which once again pits rival Democratic factions against each other. These are different political times. But endorsements continue to influence the outcome of municipal races. And what Rangel did in July 1969 offers a reminder of the outsized role that political prescience, and courage, can play in city politics.

Rangel’s decision to break with party orthodoxy—at a point when other prominent Democrats were wrestling with whether to back Lindsay—was such a big deal that New York’s media corps packed the press conference where he and the mayor shook up urban politics. “In New York City, the Democratic Party has traditionally represented a symbol of hope that one day the benefits promised in our constitution would be extended to include the poor, the persecuted and the denied,” said Rangel, who argued that Procaccino had betrayed the party’s commitment to address the needs of those “entangled in the barbed-wire of prejudice, racial and economic discrimination.”

The Nation Weekly

Fridays. A weekly digest of the best of our coverage.
By signing up, you confirm that you are over the age of 16 and agree to receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nation’s journalism. You may unsubscribe or adjust your preferences at any time. You can read our Privacy Policy here.

“Today,” he warned, “a voter can no longer depend on the party label to determine the philosophy of the party’s candidate. I have taken a long hard look at [the issues and the contenders], and in good conscience I must reject my party’s candidate for mayor of the city of New York. In doing this, I break from my family and community’s tradition. But I believe that a united party is far less important than a united city—because if our cities are torn apart then, indeed, what is there to hope for?”

A hush fell over the press room as Rangel continued.

“While, politically, it may be wise for me to sit this election out, I believe my higher duty is to attempt to bring our people together once again,” he said. “I believe that our present mayor, Mayor John Lindsay, is the best person to do that job.… I intend to work very hard toward his reelection and I’m convinced that, with his efforts and the efforts of other people in the city of New York, we will have the type of voter registration drive that would make it possible for all future candidates of the Democratic Party to understand that they cannot afford to move to fall away from the traditions of our great party.”

Lindsay welcomed the endorsement as “a very meaningful move” that would help forge “a coalition, an independent coalition, that can move our city forward in a joining of all persons of progressive spirit.”

After Rangel’s announcement, that coalition rapidly expanded. The powerful New Democratic Coalition, a group tied to the Democratic reform movements that had gained traction in critical Jewish, Black, and Puerto Rican precincts, endorsed Lindsay—in a move that The New York Times wrote, “officially puts the city’s most liberal citizens behind the Mayor.”

Five days later, US Representative Shirley Chisholm, the Democratic National Committee member from New York who three years later would become the first Black woman to bid for the party’s presidential nod, endorsed Lindsay. “The situation in New York City is so critical and so important that none of us should let partisan politics stand in our way,” declared Chisholm. “Our times and our cities do not allow this kind of thing.”

The momentum grew, as prominent white liberals—such as Paul O’Dwyer, the New Democratic Coalition leader and 1968 Democratic nominee for the US Senate—joined Rangel and Chisholm in backing Lindsay. By late October, the Times was reporting, “Most political activity in central Harlem involves Lindsay’s campaign.” That proved to be vital. On election day, the mayor won reelection, with strong support from Harlem and other Black neighborhoods for a Republican who, the Times observed, “had earned the confidence of the disadvantaged and minority groups of the city.”

Rangel’s early decision to break with his own party had proven to be the “very meaningful move” Lindsay predicted. The mayor’s second term would be marred by controversy, and bitter disputes with Nixon and the GOP—culminating in Lindsay’s 1971 decision to register as a Democrat. Rangel would, in 1970, defeat US Representative Adam Clayton Powell Jr., in a headline-grabbing result that followed a campaign which saw the mayor appear on 125th Street and Seventh Avenue to hail Rangel as candidate who was “young, energetic and committed to social change” and who Lindsay predicted would make “a vigorous, active congressman.”

Be part of 160 years of confronting power 


Every day,
The Nation exposes the administration’s unchecked and reckless abuses of power through clear-eyed, uncompromising independent journalism—the kind of journalism that holds the powerful to account and helps build alternatives to the world we live in now. 

We have just the right people to confront this moment. Speaking on Democracy Now!, Nation DC Bureau chief Chris Lehmann translated the complex terms of the budget bill into the plain truth, describing it as “the single largest upward redistribution of wealth effectuated by any piece of legislation in our history.” In the pages of the June print issue and on The Nation Podcast, Jacob Silverman dove deep into how crypto has captured American campaign finance, revealing that it was the top donor in the 2024 elections as an industry and won nearly every race it supported.

This is all in addition to The Nation’s exceptional coverage of matters of war and peace, the courts, reproductive justice, climate, immigration, healthcare, and much more.

Our 160-year history of sounding the alarm on presidential overreach and the persecution of dissent has prepared us for this moment. 2025 marks a new chapter in this history, and we need you to be part of it.

We’re aiming to raise $20,000 during our June Fundraising Campaign to fund our change-making reporting and analysis. Stand for bold, independent journalism and donate to support The Nation today.

Onward, 

Katrina vanden Heuvel 
Publisher, The Nation

John Nichols

John Nichols is a national affairs correspondent for The Nation. He has written, cowritten, or edited over a dozen books on topics ranging from histories of American socialism and the Democratic Party to analyses of US and global media systems. His latest, cowritten with Senator Bernie Sanders, is the New York Times bestseller It's OK to Be Angry About Capitalism.

More from The Nation

Representatives Thomas Massie and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, two cosponsors of the House resolution against war with Iran.

The US Should Not Support Israel’s War on Iran, Say Democrats and Republicans The US Should Not Support Israel’s War on Iran, Say Democrats and Republicans

Bernie Sanders has sponsored an anti-war resolution in the Senate, while conservative Thomas Massie is doing the same in the House.

John Nichols

A memorial is seen on the desk of DFL State Representative Melissa Hortman in the House chambers at the Minnesota State Capitol on June 16, 2025, in St. Paul, Minnesota. Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman, were shot at their home on June 14. DFL State Senator John Hoffman and his wife were also shot and hospitalized in a separate incident. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said during a press conference that the shooting “appears to be a politically motivated assassination.”

The Escalating Political Violence Didn't Come From Nowhere The Escalating Political Violence Didn't Come From Nowhere

Donald Trump issued a statement after the Minnesota shootings saying that this violence “will not be tolerated,” but his words ring hollow.

Michele Goodwin

Compassion Flotilla

Compassion Flotilla Compassion Flotilla

On June 8, the Madleen aid ship was intercepted, as it approached the shores of Gaza to distribute humanitarian aid to the Palestinian enclave’s starving population. The twelve p...

OppArt / Andrea Arroyo

A makeshift memorial for DFL State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman, is assembled at the Minnesota State Capitol on June 16, 2025, in St. Paul, Minnesota.

After the Cold-Blooded Shootings in Minnesota, Who Will Call Them Out? After the Cold-Blooded Shootings in Minnesota, Who Will Call Them Out?

We need a new profile in courage who will stand up to Donald Trump as a leader propagator of this polarization and violence.

Robert L. Borosage

No Kings

No Kings No Kings

Nobody gets to be a King.

OppArt / James McMullan, Nancy Stahl, and Chris Piascik

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson speaks to the media after the House narrowly passed a bill forwarding President Donald Trump’s agenda.

Young People Have the Most to Lose From Trump’s Budget Bill Young People Have the Most to Lose From Trump’s Budget Bill

The proposed “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act” will slow the progress of the next generation for years to come. Here are three of the biggest consequences.

StudentNation / Jazmin Kay