MID HUDSON – Independence Day is one of the busiest travel days of the year. This year, more than 71 million people are expected to travel 50 miles or more to celebrate America’s independence from Great Britain on July 4. New Yorkers define their travel destination based on where they reside, which sparks the upstate vs. downstate debate.
People on Long Island typically consider upstate to be any location north of New York City. People in the Adirondacks refer to downstate as anything from Albany south. Residents in areas of western New York, such as Buffalo, refrain from getting into the argument and quickly note that their Buffalo Bills are the only football team in New York. The NFL New York Jets and New York Giants both play their home games in East Rutherford, NJ.
Mid Hudson News recently asked Congressional representatives from the Hudson Valley, and one Congressional hopeful to explain where they think the border separating downstate and upstate New York is located. The full 30-second answers from Congressmen Marc Molinaro (NY-19) and Pat Ryan (NY-18), Westchester County Executive George Latimer (DEM candidate for NY-16), and Ryan’s challenger Alison Esposito are in the embedded video, with highlights listed below. Rep. Mike Lawler (NY-17) and Molinaro’s opponent Josh Riley did not respond to the Mid Hudson News request seeking their answer.
“Upstate meets downstate in the 19th Congressional District,” Molinaro said, adding also that “Upstate begins where Dutchess County meets Columbia County.”
Calling it a fierce debate, Rep. Ryan, born and raised in Kingston, referred to the Hudson Valley as “Its own special, unique place.” He chose Poughkeepsie as the border between the regions. “If I had to pick where upstate begins,” he said, using Metro-North Railroad as a guide, “I would say Poughkeepsie and north.”
Ryan’s Republican challenger, Alison Esposito, a retired city cop, told Mid Hudson News “I always said anything outside the city was upstate but that’s not how the rest of the state looks at it.”
Westchester County Executive George Latimer, fresh from a Congressional Democratic primary victory over Rep. Jamaal Bowman (NY-16) took a different approach. The Westchester native attended grad school at NYU and noted his classmates considered Westchester to be upstate. He has a home in the Adirondacks and said his neighbors there consider Westchester to be downstate. “I would say upstate New York is 50 miles north of wherever you are at the time you are there.” He, similar to Buffalo residents, was quick to point out that neither upstate nor downstate should be confused with Western New York.
There is no official definition of the boundaries of upstate and downstate.
