Data Centers Emerge As Key Issue For Texas Campaigns

Since he lost the Republican primary early this year, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller has spoken out on several issues facing the state. And for months, Miller has been a vocal critic of data centers.

In a recent interview with MS NOW, Miller said “there’s no oversight, no regulation.” He also said that he did not vote for Governor Greg Abbott or Nate Sheets, who defeated Miller in the Republican primary in March.

There are currently over 300 data centers in the state, and there are plans to construct an additional 288. Earlier this year, Abbott announced a six-month moratorium on data center permits. However, the nonpartisan watchdog organization Public Citizen discovered that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality had continued to process the permits after the Governor’s announcement.

On October 18, the TCEQ sent a letter to Abbott saying they had shut down the permit filing system. Abbott’s call for a six-month pause on the data center permits was a stark retreat from his previous championing of data centers in Texas. Last year he called Texas “the epicenter of AI development.” In an interview with ABC News in August, Abbott remained critical of data centers, saying the companies behind them had “built their own grave.”

Clayton Tucker, the Democrat running for Texas Agriculture Commissioner, sat next to Miller in the interview with MS Now and said the issue of data centers goes far beyond party lines. “Texans are coming together over the data center issue.”

In August, a poll from the University of Texas and the Texas Politics Project found that 57 percent of Texans would oppose having a data center in their community. Opposition to data centers was even higher for rural Texans, with 60 percent disapproving.

The data center issue has surfaced in races beyond Agriculture Commissioner. Gina Hinojosa, the Democrat challenging Abbott, has called for a full moratorium on data centers in the state. Hinojosa also recently held a press conference with data center opponents outside Dallas, which has the highest concentration of data centers in the state.

A resident from Joppa, an unincorporated community in Texas, said a recently opened data center only got approval because it allegedly billed itself as a utility center. “Our question since day one is: when are we going to be included in the conversation on data centers?” said Claudia Fowler at the press conference.

The role of data centers has also made its way into the marquee senate race between Republican Ken Paxton and Democrat James Talarico. Paxton in his capacity as Attorney General has launched investigations into over a hundred data centers in the state. Throughout his campaign, Talarico has also talked about data centers and a need for tighter regulations.