HARLEM — Corey Ortega didnt' expect much much more than a handshake when Rep. Charles Rangel summoned him and all his other campaign staffers under the age of 35 into a breakfast meeting after a victory in the June primary.
"I thought he was just going to say thanks," said Ortega, 30, who has worked as the West Harlem field organizer on the 83-year-old congressman's last three re-election campaigns — arguably the toughest of his four decade political career.
Instead, Ortega and several other people in the room recalled how Rangel began talking about them as the next generation of leaders, offering his assistance in whatever their future goals might be, from leading community organizations to sitting in the seat he now holds.
Not only did he offer monthly meetings, but he said he would open up his Rolodex and make personal introductions.
"You're the next generation and I'm not getting any younger," several people at the meeting recalled Rangel saying.
Ortega left the meeting in shock. "I've been with him for three election cycles and never heard him talk like that," he said.
As Rangel, who is running against a Green Party candidate — Daniel Vila Rivera — in the general election, prepares to launch what look to be his final two years in office, the uncertainty in Harlem about what, or who, comes next is palpable.
There's concern that the Harlem portion of the district, once considered the center of African-American political power in the country, will lose influence to other parts of the increasingly Latino district in The Bronx and Washington Heights.
"It's about maintaining the power that we have, that we fought so hard to get," said Londel Davis, 43, president of the Martin Luther King Jr. Democratic Club, Rangel's home club.
Grooming young leaders in a congressional district that has only been represented by two people — Rangel and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. — since it was created 72 years ago might be a way to maintain that power. Or it might be Rangel answering the criticism that he has stayed in the seat so long that there is no obvious successor.
"I think a succession plan is important to him," said Ariel Guerrero, 30, who worked as the coordinator in the crucial East Harlem portion of the district.
Despite endorsements from powerful East Harlem leaders such as City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and Assemblymen Robert Rodriguez, state Sen. Adriano Espaillat still lost the neighborhood which many believe cost him the chance to be the country's first Dominican congressman.
"I think [Rangel] was inspired by how he saw young people working so hard on his campaign and the energy we brought," said Arielle Crayton, 25, a former Rangel intern who served as Rangel's Central Harlem field organizer and was the youngest person on the campaign team. "I think it reminded him of the time when he was out making a way for himself."
In between the time she worked as his intern and served on his campaign, Crayton says Rangel sent her to the Congressional Black Caucus Institute's political training boot camp. Rangel is a founder of the caucus.
Crayton is studying for the LSAT and expects she will get glowing law school recommendation from Rangel. She also expects the congressman to help her make those critical connections that she plans to use to launch her own campaign and issue advocacy consulting firm one day.
With no obvious successor, many political watchers expect there to be a free-for-all among black leaders interested in the seat.
Among the names floated are former Assemblyman Adam Clayton Powell IV, Assemblyman Keith Wright, state Sen. Bill Perkins, Harlem Councilwoman Inez Dickens, former Rangel foes such as the Rev. Michael Walrond, Vincent Morgan, and former Bill Clinton adviser Clyde Williams.
Observers say that kind of wide field could mean an easy 2016 election for Espaillat, who is widely expected to run for a third time.
"There's been a generational gap and (Rangel) recognizes that," said Guerrero, who finishes his Master's in public administration policy at Baruch College next summer. "That's why throughout the campaign he was focused on making sure young individuals interested in the political arena were connecting with the right people."
Political consultant Basil Smikle said it's likely too late for any of the young people Rangel is mentoring to mount a serious challenge to gain his seat in 2016.
"He missed the opportunity to reach out to young people while he was in office with great power," said Smikle, who should know because he failed to garner Rangel's support when he ran an insurgency campaign against Perkins in 2010. Rangel's exit alone will create "shifting seats" and "rare openings" that will inspire young people to at least enter the political arena. "You'll have a new crop of leadership whether Rangel nurtures it or because his leaving will open up the pipeline," said Smikle.
However, Rangel has followed through on his promises to help his young protegees so far, said Ortega.
With Harlem district leader Jaamal Nelson, Ortega recently launched the Tenants Empowerment Program through their West Harlem Club to organize tenants to lobby around expiring rent laws. Ortega asked Rangel to support the effort.
On a rainy night in October, Rangel came out to speak at the group's fundraiser at Floridita on 125th Street in West Harlem, bringing Dickens along with him.
Rangel said he was "really impressed" with the number of young people in the room and called for a "sticking together" between the old and the young before launching into a speech about how Harlem has changed over the years.
Rangel's early efforts might not seem like much, but for young leaders like Ortega it feels like a warm embrace.
"it seems like he's trying to make helping the next generation a part of his legacy," said Ortega.
