Data Center Industry Spends Millions in Key State Races

The data center industry has launched a coordinated political mobilization to protect candidates who oppose construction moratoriums. In South Carolina, the newly formed super PAC Building the Future spent $1.5 million on advertising to support Senator Darline Graham. Senator Graham frames data center infrastructure as a national security priority for competing with China, while her Democratic opponent, Dr. Annie Andrews, has called for a two-year moratorium on new projects.

This effort follows a National Republican Senatorial Committee warning that data centers have become a sleeper issue that could jeopardize Republican candidates. Beyond South Carolina, nonprofit groups including the American Edge Project and Infrastructure for America have launched advertising campaigns in Kansas, Wisconsin, and Ohio.

In the Ohio gubernatorial race, the issue has become a central flashpoint between candidates Vivek Ramaswamy and Amy Acton. Acton is promoting a conditional moratorium that would require facilities to use union labor and meet specific environmental and energy standards. Ramaswamy opposes property tax breaks for the industry and suggests building facilities on abandoned industrial sites rather than farmland. Despite significant spending from V-PAC and other groups supporting Ramaswamy, political forecasts from the Cook Political Report and Sabato's Crystal Ball currently indicate the race leans toward Acton.