With the midterm elections just over a month away and concerns about the economy atop voters’ minds, New York Democrats at various office levels seized the opportunity to tout major announcements in technological manufacturing projects this week in several parts of the state, as well as the legislation instrumental in making those projects possible.

The climax came on Thursday with a visit by President Joe Biden in Poughkeepsie to celebrate the announcement that IBM will invest $20 billion to cover research, development and manufacturing of semiconductors, quantum computing and artificial intelligence across the Hudson Valley over the next decade.

“It’s here and now in the Hudson Valley could become the epicenter of the future of quantum computing, the most advanced and fast computing ever, ever seen in the world,” Biden said.

The investment, officials said, was prompted by the CHIPS and Science Act, signed into law by President Biden in July, which spends tens of billions of dollars to jumpstart the U.S.’s semiconductor industry.

The announcement was a chance to relish for three Democrats currently representing the Hudson Valley in the House of Representatives as they seek to retain those seats. The region could very well determine who controls the lower chamber.

“This is truly about a new generation of growth and prosperity for the Hudson Valley, for Central New York, and I am so proud of the CHIPS and Science Act, I’m so proud of the president and the Democratic majority that has brought this into being,” said Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, who has been in Congress for about a decade and is running for re-election now in the 17th District.

Maloney is also the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the one in charge of getting Democrats elected.

“Between the CHIPS Act and the bipartisan infrastructure law, we have made it clear that the United States will be the leader in global manufacturing,” said Rep. Pat Ryan, who won a closely-watched special election in August in the 19th Congressional District and is running for a full term in the 18th District.

Maloney and Ryan flanked Gov. Kathy Hochul — who is also on the ballot in November for a full term.

“That’s great that we’ll keep the semiconductor industry in the United States of America,” Hochul said of the CHIPS Act. “But I want them in New York. I’m very competitive. I want them right here in my state.”

Democrats weren’t the only ones in attendance, however. Republican Marc Molinaro, the Dutchess County executive where Poughkeepsie is located, was also in the room. Molinaro is running in the third competitive Hudson Valley House seat —the 19^th District — after losing to Pat Ryan in the August special election.

“We’ve rebuilt an economy here in Dutchess County, and quite frankly, done it in partnership with IBM, but there are countless people on the outside of this room, and many of them inside, who are struggling to pay their bills,” Molinaro told Spectrum News 1. “They see skyrocketing inflation, they see the high cost of living and they see crime on the streets. It is not comforting to them to learn about jobs five, 10 to 15 years from now. What they want to know is how are we going to drive down costs, how are we going to tackle inflation, how are we going to make our community safe. The president has an obligation to address that too.”

A Spectrum News/Siena College poll released Thursday found Molinaro trailing Democrat Josh Riley in the 19th District race by 5 points, which is within the margin of error.

The IBM announcement comes on the heels of the announcement on Tuesday that Micron will invest up to $100 billion over the next 20 years to build a computer chip manufacturing facility in Central New York, creating an estimated 50,000 jobs. New York’s U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, also up for re-election this year, made that announcement as one of the key architects of the CHIPS Act.

• RELATED | After ushering through CHIPS bill, Schumer takes victory lap on Micron investments

The Micron project set off an exchange on Twitter between the Republican and Democratic candidates for another competitive congressional seat, one that will be home to the future facility. After Brandon Williams, the Republican and founder of a software company, posted the news about Micron, Democrat Francis Conole responded saying, “Brandon’s endorsers in Congress voted against the CHIPS bill that made this happen, and he remained silent as it passed. Now he wants to have it both ways.”

Williams responded that “your endorsers in the county leg voted against the infrastructure and funding that made this deal possible.”

Williams and Conole are in a political battle to replace retiring Rep. John Katko, who was one of the few House Republicans who supported the CHIPS Act.

“I got my butt kicked for pushing it,” Katko told reporters in Syracuse Wednesday. “Not only did I vote for it, I got others to vote for it in my party. And it really made it a very bipartisan effort, and you know, quite frankly, I’m very proud of that.”