BUFFALO, N.Y. — The 27th Congressional District that is a vast, mostly rural, area with the occasional small city that is home to over 712,000 people.
While the New York State Broadband office says 98% of the state is connected, data from Microsoft suggests the 27th District is one of the least-connected areas of the state.
Their data suggests the majority of people in Genesee, Niagara, Orleans and Wyoming counties aren’t using the internet at the Federal Communications Commission-defined broadband speed of 25 Mbps.
One of the most pressing issues this election is broadband access, and the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted that. 2 On Your Side talked to Congressman Chris Jacobs (R) and his challenger, Nate McMurray (D), to learn about their plan to get this district connected.
2 On Your Side asked Congressman Jacobs in a Zoom interview about his clear cut plan to increase connectivity.
“A more serious, sustained commitment that this is a long term investment, and this is critical infrastructure as critical or more so than roads and bridges, and sewers and water lines," Jacobs said. So we need to view it this way.
"Again, we need to view it as serious as we did back in 30s, when we tried to electrify all our rural communities. It was not a luxury, it was a necessity, and every American deserves it. And that that’s the view I will be taking the Congress every day.”
2 On Your Side asked McMurray the same question.
“The rural digital Opportunity Fund is a good step. It’s a lot of money. There’s been other efforts in the past, some of them we have not benefited, because our representatives have not cared about it," McMurray said.
"I know there was the USDA fund, and I think all of the money went to Tom Reed’s district, they went to Yates County for whatever reason. Part of that is the salesmanship, or the representation, was not there for our region, so no one was fighting for those funds. No one made it a priority. I will make it a priority.”
Broadband is a topic that tends to be solved with bipartisan efforts, and one area where Jacobs and McMurray agree is whether broadband should be considered a utility such as electricity and water.
“I think it has become that and I think that absolutely, it should be,” Congressman Jacobs said. "If you create a public utility, saying this is the utility, we are going to invest in it, like we did before, with electricity, like we did before with telephone. We can say this is something that everyone has a right to, and can access, and can afford right now to really get high speed internet."
A new survey from AARP in New York State suggest that 72% of voters could choose a candidate this election based on their plan to increase access and make broadband more affordable.