Data center backlash splits Texas Republicans, giving Democrats rare opening

Gina Hinojosa, the Democratic nominee for Texas governor, began her campaign last year when data centers were not yet a campaign issue. But with three months until November's election, the perceived threat to rural water supplies, ranchland, and quality of life has become a defining wedge. Speaking to about 160 Democrats at an Amarillo social club in the Texas panhandle, Hinojosa quipped, "There is this little issue that I recently started hearing about," before attacking data centers as owned by the world's richest men, operating without rules, and leaving Texans "footing the bill." The crowd booed in response.

The backlash is not limited to Democrats. Texas' sitting agriculture commissioner, Sid Miller—a Republican—has joined critics. Suzanne Bellsnyder, a former Republican activist from Spearman who writes a syndicated column, notes that many more Republicans are upset but quiet out of fear of opposing their governor and party. Clayton Tucker, the Democratic nominee for state agriculture commissioner, described the issue as "the most cross-partisan issue I've ever seen in my life," with voters raising data centers whether he meets with Democrats or Republicans. Protest groups are forming across the panhandle; in Lubbock, a Republican-led group founded by Stephen Sanders and Hallie Bertrand says members may not vote for Abbott, though they may not vote for Hinojosa either.

The scale of the buildout is extraordinary. Gargantuan data centers are under construction in rural west Texas and the panhandle, including one near Amarillo billed as the world's largest, some equipped with natural gas-fired turbines. Google is building four data centers in northwest Texas and has sponsored moderated conversations with officials in Lubbock and Amarillo, behavior that has fueled both excitement and unease. According to commercial real estate firm JLL, Texas is poised to overtake northern Virginia as the largest global data center market by 2030, a transformation driven by abundant land, energy, and a regulatory environment friendly to business under Republican leadership.

Gov. Abbott championed the growth. In November, he helped announce Google's $40 billion（約6.4兆円） investment in the state, calling Texas "the epicenter of AI development." He has aggressively advocated for big projects. However, as rural anger mounted, Abbott's posture shifted. He ordered regulators to take steps to ensure Texans didn't pay higher electricity bills because of data centers and promised a legislative agenda next year to impose regulations, including eliminating the state's billion-dollar-plus-per-year tax break and preventing data centers from being built in "rural Texas neighborhoods." Despite these moves, critics—including Hinojosa—have dismissed his language as meaningless. Hinojosa told supporters that Abbott's words lack "urgency or seriousness" and are "doublespeak that makes no sense to anyone." As governor, she pledged to block a permit for a data center if it wasn't a good deal for Texans or if residents hadn't gotten a say in the matter.

The core concern is water. Giles Dalby, a cattle rancher and Republican county commissioner in west Texas whose family has held ranchland for 125 years, said data centers are "on everybody's mind." He pointed to the prospect that massive data consumption will worsen drought conditions in a state where water shortages have already crippled the sugar cane industry and sparked "water wars" between San Antonio and ranchers. Texas is "increasingly steamrolling over landowner rights," Dalby said, and ranchers fear that data centers will move ahead of agriculture when shortages or rationing worsen. The ripple effects of the backlash have spread beyond Texas. In Ohio, Democratic nominee Sherrod Brown aired a television advertisement attacking Republican U.S. Sen. John Husted as the "face of data centers in Ohio" as people gather signatures for a statewide referendum to outright ban their construction. In Wisconsin, Democratic candidate for governor Francesca Hong is pledging to "tax the rich, fund our schools and stop AI data centers." In Pennsylvania, Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro is facing criticism from voters who feel he's been too welcoming to tech behemoths, with Sam Burleigh, a Democrat from a rural community, accusing him of "allowing these data centers to come in and take over acres and acres of prime farmland."

The data center backlash represents a rare crack in Texas's Republican dominance. For three decades, Democrats have been shut out of statewide office in the state, but the anger over massive server farms is creating unusual political terrain. Rural Texans—typically rock-solid Republican voters—are encountering a conflict between the state's pro-business, pro-development posture under Abbott and their own interests: water in an already drought-stressed region, farmland in a legacy agricultural area, and the character of small towns threatened by rapid industrialization.

Abbott's recent regulatory moves appear to be damage control. He helped announce Google's $40 billion（約6.4兆円） Texas investment and declared the state "the epicenter of AI development," but as the backlash intensified, he ordered rate protections and promised legislative restrictions—a reversal that critics dismiss as too little and too late. His ban on data centers in "rural Texas neighborhoods" has been derided by Hinojosa as "doublespeak," leaving frustrated voters uncertain whether the governor is genuinely committed to constraint. The fact that Texas counties lack zoning authority—a tool other communities are using to block projects—further limits local remedies, pushing the issue onto the statewide ballot where it may reshape the governor's race.

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