HARRISBURG — Up and down the ballot, Pennsylvania politicians preparing for the November election are making data center criticism central to their campaigns.
There are more than 120 proposed data centers across the commonwealth — among the most in the country, according to Pew Research Center. That rapid, ambitious development has led to overwhelming backlash from many of the communities where these projects are planned.
In the state’s marquee midterm race, for governor, incumbent Democrat Josh Shapiro made a conspicuous about-face on the issue this week.
Shapiro, who once led a push to fast-track data center permits and last year crowed about a $20 billion Amazon project, has signed an executive order mandating developers obtain local approval before the Department of Environmental Protection reviews data centers’ permit applications. The state will slow-walk any projects that do not agree to a host of binding energy, environment, and transparency standards.
"What we're doing today is taking concrete action to listen to the voices of the people, to put local leaders back in charge of their communities, and to make very, very clear what the rules of the road are to be able to do business here in Pennsylvania,” Shapiro said at a Tuesday ceremony in Harrisburg where he signed the order.
Shapiro’s opponent, GOP state Treasurer Stacy Garrity, has gone a step further and called for a temporary moratorium on all data center development and heavily criticized Shapiro for his past support of the industry. (Garrity, too, was initially enthusiastic about such development.)
The gubernatorial candidates aren’t alone.
Control of both the state House and Senate is on the ballot this November, and a Spotlight PA analysis of campaign materials in potentially competitive districts found data centers featured in at least 20 races — either in digital ads, physical mail, or on candidate websites and social media pages.
Some candidates totally oppose data center development, while many others have simply listed their desire to institute guardrails as an issue on their websites. Others have hosted data center-focused listening sessions and roundtables with potential supporters.
“I don't believe I've seen an issue have such a meteoric rise in saliency as this issue,” said Chris Borick, a political scientist at Lehigh University and longtime state pollster. “It's been an issue that is redefining politics and campaigns in the state and country.”
He noted that the rhetoric surrounding data centers combines a host of issues important to voters: what is taking up space in their communities, where and how they can access important information, who benefits from that information, and how AI could shape future employment opportunities.
“You put that mix together,” Borick said, “that's a pretty potent cocktail.”
Most campaigns are also framing the issue in a broader context of how these data centers could spark higher utility prices, and whether the candidate cares more about big tech companies or the will of their constituents.
Often, both major parties paint their respective opponent as cozy with data center developers — whether or not the evidence for that is strong.
The Pennsylvania Senate Republican Campaign Committee claims in an ad with ominous music and a menacing voiceover that Democrat Chris Thomas is “bankrolled” by “data center insiders.” It cites Thomas’ candidate disclosure forms, which show the former construction worker was paid for consultant work by the civil engineering firm Gilmore & Associates.
The firm consulted for one of Amazon’s proposals in Bucks County, but the disclosure forms do not explain what work Thomas did for Gilmore. Thomas denied taking money from or having worked for a data center developer in a social media video. His campaign manager Patrick Ahern told Spotlight PA in a statement that Thomas did “temporary” marketing and municipal-level advising work for the firm years after it had consulted on the project.
Thomas is challenging incumbent state Sen. Tracy Pennycuick (R., Montgomery), a key target for Democrats looking to win a majority in the chamber for the first time in decades. A progressive-aligned group claims in its own ad that Pennycuick “stood with special interests driving up our costs” by backing legislation to expedite permitting for data center proposals.
The issue has particular salience in districts where there are active or proposed data center projects.
Perhaps no race better exemplifies the statewide focus on data centers than the 40th Senate District, which surrounds much of suburban Scranton. There are dozens of data centers proposed within its borders — most are concentrated across six campuses in Archbald.
Opposing data centers is the main focus of Democrat Brian Wrightson’s campaign to oust incumbent Republican state Sen. Rosemary Brown.
Wrightson, who owns a technology infrastructure company and is a former director of emergency services for the Red Cross, told Spotlight PA that he wants the state to ban all data center developments. He is not convinced there’s enough economic demand to support the rapid pace of development. A moratorium, he said, would be only a beginning.
“I can't justify it,” he said, saying “we don’t know” what would happen if a tech-filled data center had a fire. “I also look at my emergency management side of it, and these little towns are not prepared for the massive growth that we would see.”
His message is resonating among voters he speaks with, Wrightson said, citing their concerns for their local environments, quality of life, and utility prices.
Brown has also jumped onto data center regulation.
In February, she announced a plan to introduce a package of bills to require developers to undergo a third-party evaluation of their water use plan, order the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to conduct a study of the facilities, and prohibit the rezoning of residential properties to allow data centers. She had not introduced those bills as of Aug. 20.
Brown also said in a campaign video that she supported a moratorium “until we can make sure our voices and our communities are protected.”
Wrightson was quick to point out that Brown’s campaign received a $5,000 contribution from data center developer James Marzolino, president of Kriger Construction Inc. Marzolino has donated to a host of other elected officials across partisan lines.
Brown’s campaign is also trying to tie Wrightson to “special interests,” referencing contributions he has received from groups that have generally been supportive of data center development. These include trade unions, as well as two $500 contributions from individuals at companies that may advise data center developers.
Archbald is so well-known for its number of data center proposals that Shapiro mentioned his visit to a baseball field in the borough earlier this year as another factor in his decision to sign his executive order.
“I walked the left field line of Ed Staback Park,” Shapiro said. “That left field line, where parents should gather to watch their kids play Little League — instead that's where the corner of one of those data centers was to be built.”
Along with listening to vocal constituents, Shapiro and other politicians are likely responding to a spate of recent polling on data centers.
A Quinnipiac University Poll last month found nearly three-quarters of Pennsylvania voters would oppose an AI data center being built in their local community.
Despite Shapiro’s generally high favorability, that same Quinnipiac poll found only 24% of Pennsylvania voters approve of the governor’s handling of data centers, while 34% disapprove.
His early embrace of the potential economic upswing from the private investment that data centers offered left him open to criticism after public sentiment shifted against the projects, according to Borick.
“He is very disciplined in how he approaches politics, not prone to mistakes,” Borick said. “On this issue, even someone of his talents has struggled to calibrate his positions and policies on the matter — and that's exposed him in some ways in a political cycle that he's, you know, otherwise strongly positioned in.”
Speaking at a ceremony where he signed the executive order, Shapiro used his harshest language yet to describe data center developers, calling some “predatory” and “greedy.”
After he signed the order, Garrity said Shapiro has been the “biggest data center cheerleader in the nation” for the past 13 months and accused him of flipping his position in the wake of public pushback.
Garrity, who supports a less than three-year pause on data center developments, also echoed an ad her campaign ran against Shapiro that highlighted his administration’s work to fast-track permits for an Amazon data center planned in Luzerne and Bucks Counties. The ad claimed Shapiro did so because his campaign received contributions from data center developers.
(A spokesperson for Garrity’s campaign provided the names of donors fueling the accusation. Each is a frequent political donor with many interests before public officials — not just data center development.)
Shapiro acknowledged during an event where he signed the order that his decision stemmed directly from public input.
“The feedback I've gotten from people in their communities, well, that has really shaped my perspective on this matter,” Shapiro said. “And while curtailing the speed of projects is important, ending the secrecy is important as well.”
Borick stressed that he does not want to undersell the potential impact of data centers on outcomes in closely contested races. But he questions whether public opposition to data centers will drive voters to the polls in November and how much influence the issue could have on someone’s vote.
“For those less directly affected by data center projects, the issue may not be a top-tier driver of either their choice of candidates or their decision to show up,” Borick said. “But it’s important to note that in tightly contested races … the data center issue is likely to be very impactful.”
Spotlight PA’s Kate Huangpu contributed reporting.
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