A majority of Texans say they're opposed to the construction of data centers in their own communities, according to recent polling. Texas politicians are catching up to the sentiment with their campaign platforms.
Polling from the University of Texas at Austin and the Texas Politics Project found 56% of respondents were opposed to building data centers in their communities, with 42% saying they were strongly opposed, the plurality of responses. Less than a third — 29% — said they supported the notion.
At the same time, most voters in Texas say they're familiar with data centers, with 39% saying they've heard "a lot" about them. Republicans were more likely to be in support of building data centers than Democrats, albeit marginally so.
Though a plurality of Texans living in urban areas were opposed to having data centers near them, the poll found them to be notedly less concerned than those living in rural areas. Thirty-one percent of urban Texans were strongly opposed, as opposed to 50% of rural Texans.
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Texas politicians of both major parties are seizing on that prospect with new campaign platforms for regulating data centers and their construction.
This week, U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico and gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa, both Democrats, unveiled their agendas for data center regulations.
Talarico called for allowing Texans to decide locally whether or not data centers are constructed as well as an end to tax breaks and subsidies for them. Hinojosa called for Republican Gov. Greg Abbott to sign an executive order, stopping the construction of data centers until lawmakers can have better oversight of them.
"Energy and water utility bills are skyrocketing for Texans as billionaire-bought politicians give sweetheart tax deals to big AI data center projects and stick working Texans with the bill," Talarico said in a press release. "It's another way this broken, corrupt political system is making it impossible to get ahead no matter how hard we work."
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Talarico's Republican opponent, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, hasnot publicly shareda platform on data centers. His campaign did not immediately return a request for comment.
"The people of Texas are being taken advantage of, in a big way, by corporations who are operating under no rules," Hinojosa said in a news release. "Data centers are coming in and doing as they please – they are guzzling up all our water, guzzling up all our electricity – and the people have no say. They have no power. That is the Wild West of data centers that Greg Abbott has created in Texas. People need relief."
At the same time, Abbott, who had previously called for regulators to rein in data centers, lauded Diode Ventures' decision to not construct a data center in East Texas.
"Data centers that want to do business in Texas must meet a clear standard. This project did not," Abbott said in a news release. "Texas requires companies to put communities first, protect our natural resources and power grid, and respect the quality of life of our residents. Diode did the right thing by withdrawing their project. If other data center developments refuse to meet these standards, I expect them to do the same."
Abbott also stated he would call for legislation from state lawmakers that would codify his previously iterated expectations for data centers — such as ensuring a center will have a net positive effect on electricity consumption and reduce noise and inconveniences to neighborhoods — as well as repeal tax incentives for data centers and require ecological reports.
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