Blakemans blast: Heres why upstate New York could send Hochul packing

Upstate New Yorkers will doom themselves to misery if they give Gov.Kathy Hochul another term in office. That was one of the big takeaways from Tuesday night’s gubernatorial debate, a stunning victory for GOP challenger Bruce Blakeman.The upstate counties are mired in deep economic distress, struggling with some of the most tragic child poverty rates in the entire nation.This poverty is not due to weather or an act of God. It’s due to a succession of cynically bad decisions made by politicians, chief among them Hochul and her predecessor, Gov.

Andrew Cuomo.Blakeman came out swinging Tuesday, attacking Democrats for “taking away upstate people’s right” to benefit from high-growth industries like fracking and AI data centers. In 2014, Cuomo robbed the Southern Tier counties of their chance at a booming economy and low energy costs when he banned fracking completely, even though New York state is blessed with one of the largest natural-gas deposits in the world. Hochul doubled down on that mistake by extending Cuomo’s foolishness — and now she’s sabotaging the region’s second chance at prosperity by putting a stranglehold on AI data centers, America’s single largest generator of blue-collar jobs.Hochul is ahead in the polls statewide, but upstate Blakeman leads her 51% to 43%, according to the latest Marist survey. His lead there ought to be a lot larger, considering the pain Democrats have inflicted on the region.Childhood poverty tops 40% in Syracuse, Troy and Binghamton — higher than in The Bronx, and nearly the highest in the nation; in Rochester it’s almost as severe.  Rural counties like Cattaraugus and Chautauqua along the Pennsylvania border are also in deep distress, according to US Census poverty figures.Yet immediately to their south, where hydraulic fracking is permitted, it’s boom time.For over a decade New Yorkers have missed out on fracking jobs that pay $150,000 on average.And overall the fracking ban has made every ...