Current Affairs

A dormant issue that could play a big role in the upcoming elections


“They’re just big boxes that create cash value,” he said. “They create jobs during the construction process, and there are a few maintenance jobs that will certainly provide a generation’s worth of work for a few people, but they are not the job creators; The way other industries can take that footprint.”

There is one legislative reform that lawmakers in both states want now. Utility companies are building or repairing electrical infrastructure to accommodate data center needs and then passing the costs on to consumers, rather than being funded by technology companies, because of current rules, state lawmakers said.

New Jersey State Assemblywoman Andrea Katz, Democrat: Introduce a bill last month to create a data center surcharge that would go toward modernizing the state’s electrical grid.

“Our network needs a lot of improvements, and these improvements are very expensive,” she said, adding: “I don’t mean removing these data centers. They just need to contribute to society in the same way that all other companies do.”

A few data center-related bills have become law. In Virginialegislation is routinely filibustered or vetoed by Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin. Little has passed in New Jersey, though Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, in July Signing a draft law to study the effects of data centers.

Dan Diorio, vice president of state policy at the Data Center Alliance, an industry advocacy group, highlighted the jobs, tax revenue and economic development associated with data center growth, adding that the industry is “committed to paying for the full service costs of the energy it uses, including transmission costs.”

Some technology companies are now building — or reopening — power supplies to power their data centers, including in Pennsylvania, where one company supplies power. Three Mile Island Nuclear Facility On behalf of Microsoft. Pennsylvania leaders, alongside President Donald Trump, this year Announced $92 billion In artificial intelligence and energy projects. The Trump administration has given the AI ​​industry room to grow in hopes that the United States can overtake China in AI developments.

“The data center industry recognizes that network planning and management ultimately rests with utilities, network operators and regulators,” Diorio said. “However, the industry will continue to be counted as a committed and engaged partner to work with policymakers to help ensure a reliable and affordable network for all customers.”

A new front in the 2025 elections

Public opinion on data center development is sparse, and there is no indication that it has polarized along party lines as it has on longer-term issues. Local opposition flares up butmore newly – included In Virginia.

“The very interesting thing is that there is more coordination at the country level,” says Mikkel Vella, an analyst at Data Center Watch, a project of the artificial intelligence firm 10a Labs that tracks local data center activity.

Stewart described the opposition he began to see to data centers in his state and district as “the most interesting union I’ve ever seen.”

“Because you have the farmers, you have the environmentalists, you have the people who love rural Virginia,” he said. “So there is a very broad coalition…. They are not trying to build a fence and a gate, but they want answers.”

Leaders in both parties are trying to walk a fine line between addressing voters’ concerns about rising prices and not scaring off investment in technology.

“I actually haven’t seen data centers in any of their energy plans, because then you’d have to say, ‘I want to discourage data center development,'” one Murphy aide said of the race to succeed the term-limited governor.

The issue has received new attention from gubernatorial candidates running in the 2025 key election.

As part of former Rep. Abigail Spanberger’s energy platform, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate calls for Virginia to “ensure that data centers do not raise energy costs for everyone else in Virginia — including by paying their fair share of the cost of generating and transmitting new electricity.”

“Virginia is overdue for a statewide strategy on data centers that helps localities in every corner of the commonwealth make informed decisions about the best path forward,” Spanberger said in a statement.

Spanberger’s GOP opponent, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earl Sears, did not respond to requests for comment.

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