Overview
- On Monday President Trump used Truth Social to call data centers a “Golden Goose” and wrote that towns that reject them would end up “backwards and poor,” a remark that deepened a visible rift inside the GOP.
- Several Republican candidates and state officials have publicly distanced themselves from the president and proposed one-year pauses, local-control rules or binding restrictions, while governors in Texas, New York and Pennsylvania have ordered audits or paused approvals.
- Public opposition is broad and bipartisan: recent polls show roughly seven in 10 Americans oppose a data center in their community because of concerns about electricity costs, water use, lights and limited long‑term jobs.
- Utilities, grid operators and regulators say a surge in interconnection requests and developer reliance on public power have driven higher customer costs and long delays, and the industry has launched major ad and political spending campaigns to counter the backlash.
- The political tug-of-war matters for voters and local communities: data centers have become a big driver of recent private investment and short‑term construction jobs, but they typically deliver few permanent local positions and can shift infrastructure and rate costs onto residents, a dynamic now shaping races and policy choices ahead of November.