FORSYTH, Georgia — A billion-dollar data center boom is provoking a bipartisan backlash in one of the nation’s most important political battlegrounds.
Tax exemptions, a stable power grid and vast tracts of undeveloped land have made Georgia a mecca for the artificial intelligence industry. massive data center complex Under review or under development in Rural Acres and the Atlanta suburbs alike.
But public opposition to the increases is beginning to impact local and statewide elections, including competitive governor’s races and Senate contests that could help decide the balance of power in Washington. Meanwhile, leading Republicans and Democrats in the state are still trying to find their footing on the issue, even as strategists and party officials on both sides of the aisle warn it is becoming impossible to ignore.
Voters angry over the surge say too many politicians are failing to listen.
“I can’t see anyone, including myself, voting for anyone who has expressed approval of data centers or who has worked on their behalf,” said retired teacher Joe Reed, 68, sitting at his dining room table overlooking a patch of quiet lakefront property on the outskirts of Jackson. The city southeast of Atlanta is only miles from several proposed data center sites. Reed, a political independent, now fears that his tranquil spot on the lake will be disrupted.
Greg Head, who lives across the street from a new data megasite in Forsyth’s northern neighborhood, said he’s not opposed to data centers in general — but he’d like to have more of a say in the decisions local officials make about whether to approve the project.
“I’m going to vote for individuals here locally who will listen to me and listen to us,” said Head, a 49-year-old heating and air conditioning contractor. Head, who usually votes for Republicans.
According to one, 47 percent of voters in Georgia oppose data centers being built in their community Emerson College Polling/Nexstar Media Poll in early March5 points more than voters nationally. But neither party has broadly figured out how to approach the issue, which pits hopes for jobs, tax revenue and economic growth against concerns about power bills and water — even as a Politico poll in January showed that data centers pose a growing political risk.
John Watson, a former chairman of the Georgia Republican Party who now consults for the data center industry, said, “Georgia is a state microcosm of what’s happening across the country, and this is going to be an information campaign that those of us who are in favor of data centers are going to have to emphasize and amplify.”
“There’s no disputing the fact that the data center is a hot topic,” Watson said. But he said the political reaction is “absolutely reversible” — and doubts the issue will decide who becomes Georgia’s next governor.
Other political veterans see data centers becoming an inevitable part of the state’s most important races.
“Once these campaigns really start to pick up steam over the next few weeks, I would be surprised if it doesn’t come out,” said Spiro Amburn, a Republican strategist and former chief of staff to two state House speakers. “At some point these candidates will have to articulate what their vision is for data centers and the general business climate in Georgia.”
The first test of Georgia’s data center politics came earlier this year, when a special election was held to fill a state Senate seat. became a proxy war On the region’s growing AI warehouse development.
One candidate — former Forsyth Mayor Eric Wilson — lost despite serving more than a decade in local office because voters linked him to planned data center development in the city, said Monroe County Republican Party Chairman Noah Harbach, a member of Forsyth’s Planning and Zoning Commission. Eventual winner Steven McNeil protested tax exemption for industry and called for safeguards against consumer utility rate increases.
Wilson, Now running for Rajya Sabha seatacknowledged that data centers played a role in the race, but cautioned against blaming AI hubs alone for their defeat.
He said, “A lot of people can guess different reasons when you miss something as close as we did in the special.” “Data centers were a factor, and it was discussed in the race. It’s hard to tell how much of a factor.”
Harbach supports the Forsyth data project but said it’s clearly a red line for some voters.
“It’s just like Christians with abortion: If someone supports abortion, you don’t vote for that person,” Harbach said. “I think most people don’t care about it. But I think there are a lot more people who would say ‘no’ to data centers than say ‘absolutely yes’.”
‘We will see some bad results in November’
The rest of Georgia’s election calendar includes races with major national implications. Democratic senators are also included among them. Jon OssoffThree Republicans are trying to take on him as he tries to hold on to his seat, in a battle vital to both parties’ hopes of controlling the Senate.
Ossoff told the chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in an april letter That his office will investigate the effects of data centers on utility bills in Georgia. His Republican opponents have said little publicly about the data boom.
The fight in the open race for the post of Governor has become even more fierce. Some Democrats are calling for a halt to development and investigation of the centers’ economic and environmental impacts. Republicans, meanwhile, say local officials should make the biggest decisions. And leaders from both parties want to roll back tax incentives for developers of the facilities.
Several Democratic gubernatorial candidates said they regularly field questions from voters about data centers at their campaign stops. Former Senator Jason Esteves has held special events aimed at discussing his development, including a recent one Monday Town Hall in suburban AtlantaAnd has promised to eliminate the tax incentives that make Georgia an attractive destination for industry. Geoff Duncan, a former Republican turned Democrat, also wants changes in incentives and thinks communities and local leaders should have more control over where data centers are built.
“Every room I walk into there’s at least one question about data centers and my position on it,” he told POLITICO.
The Democratic nominee, former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, has taken a more hardline stance, suggesting An interview with the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer That it would halt data center construction until their impact is reviewed.
On the Republican side, candidates are more supportive of large-scale projects, but insist that local officials – either at the municipal or county level – should have the most control over where they are built.
Two Republicans – Lieutenant Governor Bert Jones and billionaire Rick Jackson – have come under criticism for their ties to the hub.
Jackson has Invested in a data center in TexasBut nobody in Georgia. Jones faces charges pressured for policy change which opened the door to allow massive data center Will be built in his home county – and will in turn benefit his father, who partly owns the land. Jones told POLITICO that neither he nor his family have direct investments in any local data centers.
The political debate around data centers “is inevitable right now, because voters here are extremely sophisticated. They know what questions to ask,” said Connie Di Cicco, legislative director of Georgia Conservation Voters. “They’re coming to town halls and asking questions with an astonishing level of skill.”
“It’s inevitable for elected officials not to address this issue. How they’re addressing it is the real question, and whether they’re actually addressing it in a way that’s actually helpful,” he said.
Nationally, Trump is trying to assuage voters’ unhappiness with the excessive energy needs of data centers by striking deals with tech companies to pay for their power supply, a move he said would provide “some PR help” for the industry. Experts are still divided on how well this approach will work.
But in some states, elected leaders and voters are rejecting this pressure.
Maine, another Senate battleground, was the first person to pass A law banning new data centers by 2027 – an idea popularized by the senator. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D.N.Y.), who is Nationwide moratorium proposal On new premises. (Democratic Governor Janet Mills vetoed the bill Friday.) The city council of Chandler, Arizona, and voters in a small Wisconsin town also rejected data center projects in their areas, while voters in a small Missouri town this month voted four council members Who had approved a data center worth $6 billion.
However, in Georgia, efforts by state lawmakers to suspend tax breaks for developers, halt data center construction or otherwise respond to unhappy voters have repeatedly failed. These include a GOP-led effort this year to protect consumers from rising electricity costs.
Republican state Senator Chuck Huffstetler, who sponsored that measure, has warned lawmakers that data centers will be on the ballot this year.
“Everyone should pay attention to that advice and make sure we take care of our consumers, because if not, I think we’re going to see some bad outcomes in November,” the northwest Georgia lawmaker told POLITICO.
geography matters
Middle Georgia voters’ concerns about the arrival of AI megasites are shifting across county lines.
In Jackson, about 20 miles from Monroe County’s data center development, many of the nearly dozen residents who spoke to POLITICO expressed more concern about the influx of spring breakers stopping by for tours on a sunny Monday afternoon. Area’s “Stranger Things” Filming Locations.
Most had heard about the data centers and the upcoming debates on local news or in Facebook groups. But many said they were not concerned about the developments, nor did they think the issue would affect their vote. Even more said they didn’t know enough to share an opinion.
Just a few miles south, voters were more willing to express their displeasure — both with nearby data warehouses and the elected officials who approve them.
Head, a Monroe County resident who lives across from one of these sites, runs a heating and air conditioning company, is an elected school board member and serves on the county’s development authority. After a busy day, he said, he loves being surrounded by acres of untouched nature.
When Forsyth took over the land in front of his house and later cleared it as a data center site, Head was furious. Living outside the city limits, he is unable to vote for the officials who green-lighted the development.
“I think the majority in this county is demanding smart, controlled growth,” Head said. “What this means is that you bring in a data center, you have to put it in an appropriate location.”
Still, he said, he would like to make the site a data center rather than a shipping warehouse or retail space, which would draw more traffic to the backroad near which he lives.
Reed, who lives just 20 minutes north, said he and his neighbors have long opposed the development of data centers and shipping warehouses near their quiet streets. Over the years, they have protested at some of the proposed sites, written letters to their corporate leadership and testified at county meetings throughout the region. (Reed is a political independent who ran as a third-party candidate for state representative in 2020 due to his general dissatisfaction with both parties.)
He and his wife moved to a quiet place on the lake about 20 years ago, hoping it would serve as a midpoint between their adult children and grandchildren in North Carolina and Florida. If Reed had known data centers were coming, he said, he probably would have settled elsewhere.
“If you and I quit using ChatGPT and buying stuff from Amazon, we wouldn’t need them,” he said.
“But it’s not going away.”
