Yes, me too. I grew up in the hinterlands between Potsdam and Massena in the 1960s. Back then it was more union member Dems and FDR leftovers. It wasn't safe for queer folks back then, but it sure as hell isn't these days either. There were 75 kids in my small high school graduating class. 1
There were ZERO openly gay kids in my high school, because that could get you killed. There were ZERO Black kids in my high school, and I thank my lucky stars every single day that my mother and my amazing grandfather taught me about racism, homophobia, and sexism before I left for college and 2
met actual gay people and Black people for the first time in my life. 95% of white kids in the North Country did not have the luck I had, and that explains the current electorate there better than any other explanation I can think of. 3