Senator Adriano Espaillat Is Endorsed by Ferrer in House Race Fernando Ferrer, left, lent his support to State Senator Adriano Espaillat's campaign for the 13th Congressional District seat. State Senator Adriano Espaillat, intensifying his outreach to Latino voters in his campaign to defeat Representative Charles B. Rangel, was endorsed on Monday by one of the city's most prominent Hispanic leaders, Fernando Ferrer. Mr. Espaillat is the most prominent of several Democratic challengers to Mr. Rangel, a veteran Harlem congressman whose bid for re-election has been complicated this year by redistricting, which transformed the area, long a center of black political power, into a district with a Hispanic majority. Mr. Espaillat is Dominican-American and would be the first Dominican-born person to serve in Congress; the district now includes part of the Bronx and is known as the 13th Congressional District. Mr. Ferrer, the former Bronx borough president and the 2005 Democratic mayoral nominee, called Mr. Espaillat "a clear, unambiguous champion of his district" and said he would help him in any way he could in the six weeks before the June 26 primary. He declined, however, to say anything critical about Mr. Rangel, who in the past few years has been tripped up by ethics problems that led to his censure in the House and his relinquishing his powerful position as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. Mr. Rangel had endorsed Mr. Ferrer in his campaign for mayor. "I have known Charlie Rangel for over 40 years, and I could not, and would not, say an unkind word about him," Mr. Ferrer said. I'm here today to look to the future, not the past. Later, when asked if his reference to "the future" was a reference to Mr. Rangel's age - Mr. Rangel is 81 and has been having back problems, forcing him to rely on a walker - Mr. Ferrer said it was not. "It's a reference to the positive attributes that Senator Espaillat brings to this race," Mr. Ferrer said, adding, "There's nothing in between the lines." Pressed by a reporter about why he chose to "abandon" Mr. Rangel, Mr. Ferrer seemed almost to flinch. "You put that so harshly," he said. Mr. Espaillat, for his part, called Mr. Ferrer "a great New Yorker" and said he was happy to receive his endorsement. Mr. Rangel's campaign responded to Mr. Ferrer's endorsement of Mr. Espaillat by saying that another prominent Latino politician, the current Bronx borough president, Ruben Diaz Jr., would be endorsing Mr. Rangel later this week. Earlier on Monday, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who in 2010 endorsed Mr. Rangel although ethics questions had been raised about him, said in response to a question that he had not yet decided whether he would endorse a candidate in the race this year. "In the past I have endorsed Charlie Rangel - he has brought home the bacon," Mr. Bloomberg said, adding, "It's sad that he lost his chairmanship just at the point where he really could have done more for New York City." But he said he had not thought about whether he would endorse someone this year. "It's just too early to do that," he said. I think you've got to let these things play out a little bit.