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Political backlash to data centers is putting gubernatorial candidates in the hot seat as the presence of the massive AI infrastructure becomes a flashpoint in races up and down the ballot.
Incumbent governors and hopeful challengers are are forced to wrestle with Americans’ growing concerns around AI, along with concerns about energy prices and land use driven by data center construction.
Data centers, the sprawling buildings that can be used to power AI models and systems along with other technologies, are one of the only tangible signs of AI’s rapid development.
“Could you invent an easier political target if you tried?” said Sam Silverman, founder of the Silverman Strategy Group, which focuses on the intersection of technology and politics. “Absent gigantic changes in strategy, this only gets worse,” Silverman said.
“I’m generally a techo-optimist, and I’d advise anyone actively campaigning as pro-data center in their community that it’s electoral malpractice,” Silverman, who most recently worked for Rep. Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.), told The Hill Friday.
The debate over data centers is heating up in the states, where lawmakers are rallying behind state moratoria or stricter regulations meant to address the environmental and economic impact of data centers..
Candidates are latching onto this momentum — or backtracking on their previous support for AI infrastructure —, to win over voters.
Silverman said gubernatorial races are “ where the rubber is first meeting the road on a lot of these policies.”
Pennsylvania
The race for Pennsylvania governor highlights these new dynamics, where incumbent Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) is facing a challenge from Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity (R).
Shapiro, a potential contender for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination, has embraced a more cautious approach to data centers since welcoming a new Amazon data center project to the state last year.
Shapiro unveiled a framework for data center guardrails in May, called the Governor’s Responsible Infrastructure Development (GRID) initiative.
The measure, passed by the Pennsylvania House last month, requires data center developers to pay for their own power generation to avoid consumers taking on the costs, and to be transparent with the community about their plans.
It also calls for data centers to work with municipalities to enter into community benefit agreements that ensure a certain number of new jobs, and commit to environmental protection measures.
Shapiro campaign spokesperson Manuel Bonder said the framework, which still needs to pass the state Senate, was designed based on the governor’s work with community, labor and environmental leaders.
Shapero unveiled the framework less than r a year after he announcedAmazon would invest at least $20 billion into the Keystone State to develop multiple cloud computing and AI campuses across the Commonwealth.
Shapiro, the clear frontrunner in his race for reelection, is trying to strike a balance in the wake of this project. While Pennsylvania “competes for major projects and leads on innovation,” Bonder told The Hill that Shapiro is focused on setting “strict standards” and ensuring “projects benefit our communities and don’t impose costs on Pennsylvanians.”
Nonetheless, Garrity is targeting Shapiro’s support for this project on the campaign trail.
“Less than a year ago, Josh Shapiro was unfettered data center development’s biggest cheerleader in Pennsylvania, but as we’ve learned, he has shown absolutely no leadership and provided virtually no communication to local communities,” Garrity said in a statement shared by her campaign, pointing to the voluntary nature of the framework.
Garrity, however, has also shifted her views on data centers with the election approaching.. The state treasurer lauded the Amazon project at the time, and later pushed for deregulation, arguing Pennsylvania was behind in data center development.
Last week, Garrity shifted course and called for a pause on data center development during a listening session with local, county and state leaders.
Christopher Borick, a Pennsylvania-based political science professor at Lehigh University, said the gubernatorial race shows how elected officials are having to “dramatically recalibrate” their rhetoric and policies on data centers.
“Many officials and many that are running for reelection got out over their skis on the issue and found themselves playing, doing a little triangle,” he told The Hill.
Texas
Like Shapiro, incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott (R) is shifting his views on data centers as he eyes reelection this fall.
Abbott made headlines last month after he called for blocking new data center development in rural parts of the Lone Star State during a campaign stop.
“Let me tell you about something else that I’m fighting for that dovetails right into fighting for East Texas values, and that is pushing back against these AI data centers that are trying to build in our neighborhoods,” Abbott said late last month, according to local news reports.
The remarks came just weeks after Abbott sent a letter to state regulators asking them to ensure residents are not “burdened” with the infrastructure costs. He proposed repealing sales tax exemptions for data centers, requiring data centers to add to Texas’s electric capacity and be built with water-efficient technologies.
This differs from last November, when the Texas Republican called the state the “epicenter of AI development” as he welcomed Google’s $40 billion investment into the development of data facilities in the state.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa, a Texas state representative, is seizing on Abbott’s history and made data centers a key part of her campaign.
“Data centers are moving to Texas because Greg Abbott helped create the most generous tax dollar giveaway to data centers in the country so Texans would foot the bill,” Hinojosa told The Hill, referring to the state’s data center tax exemption that could cost the state more than $3 billion by 2028.
Hinojosa argues the governor is “backtracking” because of the increased calls for the AI developers behind data centers to pay for the rising utility costs.
“Abbott has zero credibility here – no one believes that the arsonist is going to put out the fire,” she added.
Like other Democrats this cycle, Hinojosa is embracing a populist approach, tuning into voters’ sentiment about the ultra-wealthy who may own the data centers.
Data centers, Borick said “intersect with broader concerns and anger regarding powerful tech interests, powerful companies, [and] powerful individuals connected to AI.
Georgia
In the battleground state of Georgia, pollsters are predicting the gubernatorial race is a toss-up between former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms (D) and billionaire health care executive Rick Jackson.
The two candidates significantly differ on their approach to data centers in Georgia, which hosts some of the most data centers across the country through tax incentives and cheaper electricity rates.
Bottoms has called for the state to slow down and “reassess” the expansion of data centers she claims have led to higher utility bills, and strained water resources. She has proposed a “temporary” halt on new data construction while these assessments take place.
“Georgia’s status quo of unchecked data center construction without a plan is not acceptable,” TaNisha Cameron, Bottoms’ campaign communications director, told The Hill.
Current Gov. Brian Kemp (R) criticized her view as “irresponsible” last month.
Jackson, who is invested in a data center project, is more supportive of data centers, arguing they can bring economic benefits to communities. He still believes communities should have a say on whether data centers are placed there.
Uphill battle for data center industry
While candidates are trying to manage, and in some cases, seize, on the backlash against data centers, the industry is frustrated people are tying only AI to data centers, given their many other uses.
“Naturally, it’s an election year, and election year politics…are at play here with those questions of affordability and unfortunately, data centers end up being… a sort of poster child if you will,” one data center industry expert told The Hill. “They end up being the conduit through which a lot of these questions flow through.”
“It’s hard to separate the infrastructure from the application in these conversations and that is a bit frustrating,” the expert said, “Because we often say we don’t have much of the input on the application side.”
Dan Cassino, the executive director of the Fairleigh Dickinson University poll that measures data center and AI sentiment, emphasized the backlash comes down the AI itself.
“People, rightly or wrongly, believe that data centers are there for AI and that’s what’s driving up the power bill,” Cassino told The Hill. “When we ask people about their opinions on AI, they are largely negative about it.”
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