U.S. Ambassador to South Africa Patrick Gaspard told TPM on Friday he has no interest in running for Rep. Charlie Rangel’s (D-NY) congressional seat in Upper Manhattan and the Bronx.
An anonymous Democratic operative floated the possibility of Gaspard running for the seat in an article published Wednesday by the newspaper Roll Call.
“This is kooky. I have zero interest, and I’m not a Harlem guy,” said Gaspard, who was based in Brooklyn prior to moving to South Africa to assume his diplomatic post.
Rangel, the dean of New York’s congressional delegation, has been in office since 1971. In 2012, he narrowly fended off a primary challenge from state Sen. Adriano Espaillat. Rangel has not publicly said whether he will run for re-election in 2014.
