CQPolitics

Syracuse, in the district’s east, is the 25th’s only major city and is its economic hub. The district stretches west, roughly along Lake Ontario in the north and the Erie Canal in the south, from Onondaga County to reach most of Irondequoit in the Rochester suburbs. Syracuse and the Rochester area are home to diverse economies that rely on educational institutions to spur other industries, and small towns and farms fill most of the land between the two cities.

More than two-thirds of the 25th’s residents live in Onondaga County, which is home to Syracuse. Past layoffs in manufacturing are now being offset by job increases in higher education, health care and service professions. Syracuse University is the district’s economic mainstay and is located in the city on University Hill, which is a fast-growing area that also includes the State University of New York Upstate Medical University. Proposed development along the Onondaga Lake includes controversial plans to expand the city’s Carousel Center shopping mall into “Destiny USA,” a shopping and entertainment mega-venue, which supporters hope would provide thousands of local jobs and attract millions of visitors to Syracuse annually.

South of Syracuse, small towns rely on dairy and fruit farms.The district also includes coastal and inland farming-based towns stretching from Fair Haven in the east to the banks of the Genesee River in the west. Many Rochester-area residents work in white-collar industries.

Minorities and blue-collar workers contribute to the Democratic vote in Syracuse, while GOP candidates get votes from social conservatives scattered throughout the 25th and fiscal conservatives located in rural and suburban clusters. The politically diverse 25th gave a slight majority of its vote to John Kerry in the 2004 presidential election.

Major Industry

Agriculture, service, manufacturing, higher education, health care

Cities

Syracuse, 147,306; Irondequoit (unincorporated) (pt.), 32,661

Notable

Syracuse native Charles F. Brannock invented the Brannock Device, used to measure feet for shoe size; Syracuse University’s Carrier Dome is the largest on-campus domed stadium in the country.