State Democrats Start Upstate Caucus
Trying to beat back the label as New York City-focused, Senate Democrats announced today an Upstate Caucus, “a five-member body that will concentrate on ways to help families live, work and thrive in upstate regions of New York state.”
Senate Democrats are trying to win the Senate majority for the first time since 1965, and will likely need to pick off an upstate seat or two to knock off the GOP majority. Republicans hold a two-seat majority.
The caucus will be made up of: Sens. William Stachowski, D-Buffalo; Neil Breslin, D-Albany; David Valesky, D-Oneida; Antoine Thompson, D-Buffalo/Niagara Falls; and Darrel J. Aubertine, D-Cape Vincent.
No Westchester County Democratic senators are on the panel, though.
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uh, westchester is not upstate!!
Growing up in the Bronx in the late 50s-60s, upstate seemed to me to be anything north of White Plains, but now having achieved the experience, if not the maturity, of age, I’d consider “Upstate” to be pretty much anywhere north of Albany. Folks from LI and NYC will need to adjust their worldview accordingly.
Many friends in Manhattan refer to Westchester as “upstate.” I always smile, but I guess there’s some kind of Big Apple egocentricity involved, though they’ll never admit it.
“Upstate” has no fixed definition and can vary with one’s perspective. To somebody on Long Island or in NYC, Somers could be “upstate.” One person in Albany could say he’s already upstate, while another there could say upstate is north of him. The only thing certain is that everybody is downstate from the folks in Clinton, Franklin, and St. Lawrence Counties. Check out “Upstate New York” on Wikipedia for an interesting discussion of the “standard” definition and variations on it.