The short version
- Fort Drum is tied to about 36% of Jefferson County's jobs. When Fort Drum sneezes, the local economy catches a cold.
- Congress decides construction money and VA funding. The state shapes what happens off post: housing, schools and licenses for military spouses.
- We found no detailed Fort Drum plan from any challenger on this ballot. The incumbents point mostly to votes and support for projects the Army chose.
You are a soldier or military spouse
Housing
More than half of soldiers with families live off post, where home prices are up 67% since 2015 and there are far fewer homes for sale. State housing policy (the governor and Legislature) acts on this market; we found no candidate plan aimed at military families' housing.
Jobs for spouses
Federal law already makes states honor many out-of-state professional licenses for military spouses.
You are a veteran
Tenney (Congress, incumbent)
Voted no on the PACT Act for burn-pit veterans in 2022, saying the bill was too partisan and changed how the money was budgeted. She later co-sponsored a burn-pit ban that became law.
Ellman (Congress)
A veteran and former VA employee laid off in 2025, who says she survived burn-pit cancer. She has no voting record yet and no published VA plan.
Your VA care
VA specialty services moved into a new clinic at Fort Drum on Oct. 16. The Watertown VA clinic on Arsenal Street still offers primary and mental health care.
You own a local business
What drives your customers
13,320 soldiers and 22,736 family members. The number of soldiers has dropped about 26% since 2013.
What to watch
The 2027 defense bill, stalled in the Senate until after the election. No new base-closure round is planned; only Congress can start one. The Army picked Fort Drum for a new microreactor; Spectrum News reported the Army said it would not place one where a post's future was uncertain.
The honest bottom line: Fort Drum's future is decided mostly in Washington and by the Army. On this ballot, the House race (Tenney or Ellman) matters most for the post, and the governor's race matters most for the housing and schools military families use off post.
The full article has the numbers, the record and the sources. WBA does not endorse candidates. This is a plain-English summary; every number comes from our full research, where each fact has a source.