Thomas, who won re-election last week, pointed to a local threat against the Prince William Digital Gateway, which included more than 30 data centers on the edge of the National Reserve in the north. A group of homeowners challenged the project in court, and a judge appeared in August, temporarily halting construction.
“The little guy ended up being defeated, which is often the case in any industry, let alone ten times,” he said, referring to the biggest tech companies. “I think that brought people together politically in Virginia.”
Thomas, like Hubbard, also says he sees many of his districts concerned about how data centers will affect their electricity bills. “People are just getting more expensive,” he says. Energy bills, Thomas says, “are something that’s been pretty static for years.” But in Virginia, the electrical load on data centers is helping to drive the state’s bills, Thomas said.
Both Thomas and Hubbard are Democrats, but they are against data centers, the reported pressure of the data center, is well bipartisan. And some Republican politicians, including Sen. Josh Hawley, rep. Thomas Massie, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, they have started talking about them.
“People should pay more attention to your local city, county, and state approvals for data centers and want your bills and energy bills protected!!!” Greene, has criticized data center expansion for months, posted on X on November 7.
Big tech companies should now be making a few public statements about the pushback on data center projects. While some, like meta, provide public information in their data centers, others in the industry rely heavily on Nondiscussion agreements when building communities, including technology companies that can be involved.
