Back on July 1, following a prayer breakfast in Harlem, pastor, presidential advisor and former Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Suzan “Sujay” Johnson Cook, announced that she was running to represent New York’s 13th Congressional District. NY-13 as it is known spans Harlem, East Harlem, Upper Manhattan and parts of the West Bronx. Four decade incumbent Charles B. Rangel plans to retire at the end of his twenty-third term in 2016.
Suzan Johnson Cook is a native of Harlem and the Bronx and a respected local and national faith leader. She founded the Bronx Christian Fellowship Church and several community non-profit organizations in Harlem and the Bronx. Johnson Cook also advised Presidents Clinton and Obama on critical domestic policy issues and global religious freedom while serving as the U.S. Ambassador-At-Large for International Religious Freedom under Secretaries of State Hillary Clinton and John Kerry.
Supporters say that Rev. Johnson Cook’s career has been about bringing people together and lifting them up.
Johnson Cook joins a Harlem Assemblyman Keith L.T. Wright, former East Harlem Assemblyman Adam Clayton Powell IV and former aide to Bill Clinton, Clyde Williams as announced candidates. State Senator Adriano Espaillat and Rev. Michael Walrond, who both ran last year against Rangel and Assemblyman Robert Rodriguez are rumored to be mulling runs of their own.
According to the Federal Elections Committee, her campaign committee, Suzan Johnson Cook For Congress has no reported financial activity. Assemblyman Wright has raised $146,635 and has $121, 509 unspent, while Powell has raised $84,986 with $65,105 cash on hand.
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