Charlie Rangel in Tight Primary Fight With Adriano Espaillat

Longtime New York Democratic Rep. Charlie Rangel held a slim lead over challenger Adriano Espaillat early Wednesday as the third most tenured member of the House fought for his 23rd term in Congress.

Rangel had a lead over Espaillat but news3blog.blogspot.com has not called the race because fewer than 2,000 votes separate the candidates.

Early Wednesday, the AP reported that with 99 percent of the vote counted in unofficial results, Rangel was leading Espaillat 47.4 percent to 43.7 percent. About 47,000 votes were counted on Tuesday.

Rangel, however, did not wait to declare victory, dropping balloons to celebrate at a victory party with supporters late Tuesday. Espaillat has not conceded.

The race is rematch of a bitterly fought 2012 campaign that ended with Rangel prevailing by fewer than 1,100 votes.

Ethical woes and the changing demographics of Rangel's New York City district have made the 84-year-old's last two campaigns the fiercest of his political career. Espaillat argued that Rangel had become entrenched in the ways of Washington, pointing to his 2010 House censure for financial improprieties.

Rangel's biggest hurdle to overcome may have been the changing demographics of the New York's 13th Congressional District, which was redrawn after the 2010 census to include areas of the Bronx along with his political base in Harlem. The district shifted from being a majority of black voters to a Hispanic majority.

news3blog.blogspot.com contributed to this report.

First published June 24 2014, 10:24 PM

Andrew Rafferty

Andrew Rafferty has been a political reporter for NBCNews.com since 2013. Rafferty writes and reports on politics for the web, and shoots and produces video for all NBC platforms. Prior to joining NBCNews.com, Rafferty was a campaign reporter covering the 2012 presidential election. Rafferty was on the road for both the Republican primaries and general election, providing content for both the web and television. Rafferty began at NBC News through a fellowship at 'Meet The Press.' He is from Buffalo, N.Y., and attended John Carroll University in Ohio.