During a televised debate among candidates running in the 13th Congressional District race on Monday night in the Bronx, it was the absence of the embattled 82-year-old incumbent that spoke loudest.

The debate, shown on BronxNet’s BronxTalk show and hosted by the Norwood News and Riverdale Press, featured four of the five candidates running for the 13th Congressional District: Craig Schley, Clyde Williams, Joyce Johnson and Adriano Espaillat.

Following a contentious redistricting process, the district now stretches from Harlem to upper Manhattan and is now home to a significant section of the Bronx, including the neighborhoods of Norwood, Bedford Park, Kingsbridge Heights and University Heights.

While his challengers made their case to Bronxites, Charlie Rangel, who turned 82 on Monday and has represented the district through several incarnations over the past 41 years (though he has never had Bronx constituents), declined the invitation to participate. A campaign spokesperson sent out a statement saying he could not attend because of a previous engagement.

Rangel’s opponents took the opportunity to call for a changing of the guard, highlighting persistent problems in the district that the incumbent has failed to address and pointing out all of the reasons why they should be the choice to replace him.

Espaillat, a state senator who represents upper Manhattan and a slice of Riverdale and is the only Hispanic candidate in a district that is now 55 percent Latino, began his comments by calling attention to the empty chair to his left, saying Rangel’s absence was “egregious.” (Rangel did show up to a debate earlier in the day in Manhattan.)

Johnson, a former executive at the liquor company Seagram’s and a Democratic district leader in Harlem, finished third in the race against Rangel in 2010. “I’m glad to see there’s a contest [in 2012],” she said. “I’m sorry the Congressman isn’t here and let the debate continue.”

Williams, a Harlem resident who has worked under Presidents Clinton and Obama, said the Bronx has traditionally been “overlooked” and, as a consequence, residents “don’t feel like they get resources they need to be competitive” in an economic or educational sense. He added that he doesn’t have the “historical legacy of other people” of failing to deliver those resources to the Bronx or any other part of the district.

As a result of those failures, Williams said, the Bronx suffers from the same ills as the rest of the district. He cited high unemployment rates (“twice the national average”), especially among black and Latino men (which is at “20 some odd percent”).

After the debate, Schley said Rangel’s absence was telling and underscored why he needs to be replaced. “He’s been absent,” he said.

Throughout the rest of the hour-long debate, the candidates refrained from attacking each other. Instead, each tried to separate themselves by highlighting their distinguishing qualities.

Schley, a former model and a firefighter from Philadelphia who has been working in Harlem for the past two decades, repeatedly talked about the need to curb the displacement of residents, emphasizing his work fighting the expansion of Columbia University in Harlem.

Espaillat hyped his contributions to immigrant rights (his work in the assembly led to in-state tuition for immigrants) and affordable housing (his work in the senate extended rent regulations, but failed to strengthen them).

Johnson highlighted her leadership skills and business acumen as Seagram’s executive.

And Williams drove home his experience working for two sitting presidents and his stint at the Department of Agriculture.

The candidates, however, did disagree with how to be a productive legislator in a Congress divided by partisanship.

Espaillat wasn’t eager to address how he would contribute in a Republican-controlled House, but said he would work hard to make sure Democrats, “strong Democrats,” took back control. (Espaillat said he would have taken health care reform a step further than Obama and that the president was forced to compromise because of pressure.)

“Democrats failed the president in his first term,” Espaillat said. “We need representatives that will be strong Democrats, to give Obama the support he deserves.”

Johnson also said she would work to take back the majority and keep Obama in office, starting the day after she wins the June 26 primary.

Williams and Schley, on the other hand, both said regardless of the composition of Congress, they would find ways to work across the aisle.

“We have to be realistic,” Schley said, “we have a Republican-controlled House.”

In the end, the candidates all agreed on the presence of deep-rooted problems — with unemployment, health disparities and education — in the Bronx and the rest of the district and that there needed to be a change in representation.

Schley made a fruit analogy to drive home his point after the debate. “When fruit stays on the vine too long, it rots on the vine,” he said. “We need fresh fruit and nourishment for the district.”

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.