Paxton Vows Data Center Crackdown in Senate Bid
Paxton Vows Data Center Crackdown in Senate Bid
The News
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican Senate candidate, has released a four-point "Texas First Data Center Plan" calling for state and federal restrictions on the data centers powering the AI boom.
The plan would bar Chinese technology from powering U.S. data centers, create criminal liability for operators whose facilities run harmful AI chatbots, and require large data centers to fund their own power rather than lean on the grid.
Paxton says he would co-sponsor Sen. Tom Cotton's DATA Act, which exempts off-grid power from some federal rules, and he backs Gov. Greg Abbott's Texas restrictions — including bans on building in neighborhoods and repealing tax incentives.
He is the latest Republican to run against an industry his own party's president has championed.
Timeline
Public opinion moved 12 points against data centers, according to a national poll cited by Time.
The Hill reports Paxton unveiling the plan, "joining other GOP candidates in calling for restrictions." Just the News reports the four-point plan tracks Abbott's state-level approach and adds federal restrictions and consumer protections.
The Austin City Council weighs data center regulations of its own. Council members Vanessa Fuentes, José Velásquez, Ryan Alter, Mike Siegel and Zo Qadri say they want an outright ban on data centers in the city, KXAN reported.
Reactions
The Daily Signal framed the proposal as a bid to "safeguard Texas' power grid and communities from emerging threats."
Time reported that Republicans in Texas, Michigan and Florida are "pivoting fast" as polling shows voters souring on the data centers fueling AI's expansion.
City Journal described the trend as the rise of the "tough on data centers" politician, noting that pro-growth governors from Texas to Pennsylvania are responding to the backlash — but that "not all crackdowns are created equal."
RealClearPolitics argued the shift is a "golden opportunity" for Democrats, writing that the politics of AI are changing and policy should follow.
President Trump has publicly backed data center expansion, putting him at odds with Republican candidates now reversing earlier support.
What's Next
Paxton faces Democrat James Talarico, whom he accuses of taking donations from data center-affiliated interests.
Senate Republicans warned in a memo that a loss in Ohio tied to data centers would spook politicians nationwide.
Two open questions hang over the fall: whether Republicans running against data centers pay a price with Trump or with tech industry donors before November, and whether the DATA Act can move in a Senate whose administration favors expansion.
More
The backlash driving these plans is about electricity bills and neighborhood disruption — the two complaints reshaping midterm races in Texas, Michigan, Florida, Ohio, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
That is the split inside the GOP: whether reining in data centers protects the grid and the communities near them, or hands away America's lead in AI.
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