Data Center Opposition Faces Newest Test In Florida’s Primary Elections

TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Ahead of Florida’s primary elections, data centers are everywhere: in blistering AI-created political ads, campaign promises from both parties and at the forefront of voters' minds.

It’s especially pertinent in the Sunshine State, which has yet to see a major hyperscale project after community-led opposition has stalled proposals — or even scuttled them entirely — in several counties. Data centers have now penetrated many campaigns in the state, from the race for the governor’s mansion to small-town city councils. Tuesday’s elections will be the first major test for the growing opposition movement, as well as for how much weight voters are really placing on the issue.

The subject practically didn’t exist during the last major election cycle in 2024. But the AI industry’s booming growth and a rising wave of public worry over data centers’ hulking size, electricity use and environmental impact has quickly elevated their development as a major political issue.

“We were looking right directly at one in our county, and people were really alarmed by that,” said Cheryl Curtiss, a community organizer with the group No Data Centers Citrus County. “So I do think it’s really a key in this election.”

Residents in Citrus County, a Republican-leaning jurisdiction along the Gulf Coast, which has a population of less than 175,000 people, mounted a grassroots campaign against a company’s zoning proposal that would have paved the way for a large data center. The county passed a moratorium in May, and the developer pulled its applications from consideration a month later. Yet residents are concerned developers could propose another data center soon, Curtiss said.

No Data Centers Citrus County has endorsed candidates in the two Republican-held county commission seats that the group says are aligned with their opposition to data centers and large-scale developments. One of those candidates, Holli Herndon, has made opposition to data centers a central part of her campaign against the incumbent. The group is also preparing to move its focus to state and gubernatorial candidates, Curtiss said.

A new law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) this year allowed local governments to maintain the authority over land development as it relates to data centers, giving city or county leaders some level of control over the industry’s growth. For some communities, especially those with data center proposals, that’s added a new layer of importance to local elections.

Yet data centers aren’t just a hyper-local issue: Florida candidates for statewide and federal offices from both parties are taking stances against them, especially in areas with active proposals.

Most congressional candidates in the Republican-leaning 16th District, for example, are opposed to a controversial data center that’s been proposed within the newly redrawn lines, according to a Tampa Bay Times report.

And in the race to replace DeSantis, one of the most watched elections in the state, every major candidate in the race has taken a stance on hyperscale data centers.

On the Democratic side, primary front-runner David Jolly has supported a moratorium, while state Rep. Dotie Joseph has said she would pursue tighter regulations on the industry. In the GOP field, controversial investor James Fishback has pledged an all-out ban, and former state House Speaker Paul Renner has taken the moratorium approach. Lt. Gov. Jay Collins and Rep. Byron Donalds haven’t gone as far, but have said they support placing certain guardrails on the industry’s development.

Donalds, the Trump-endorsed front-runner, has said Florida should embrace data center development while ensuring the industry doesn’t raise electricity costs for residents or harm the state’s water supply.

His opponents have pounced on his data center statements, criticizing him for receiving significant campaign contributions from the industry. At a campaign event Monday, Donalds said there are “a lot of campaigns running around promising moratoriums and bans.”

“There ain’t no bans coming,” he added. “But it sounds good on TV. Or it sounds good on social media.”

In the same Democratic-leaning county as President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago, the majority of candidates campaigning for the three open Palm Beach County commission seats have said they’re supportive of a moratorium on data centers or oppose the controversial “Project Tango” hyperscale data center proposal within the county.

“I think this is going to be a defining issue of this campaign, and I think it's really a litmus test between a lot of the neighborhood local concerns about overdevelopment in general,” Jeremy Matlow, a city commissioner running for Tallahassee mayor, said of his own race. Matlow is affiliated with the Democratic Party, though the mayoral race is nonpartisan.

Earlier this year, Matlow proposed a one-year moratorium, which the commission voted down after the city manager said local law already blocked data centers from being built. Yet Matlow argued that any potential loopholes should be closed, and has promised to pursue a permanent ban if elected.

For many, data centers have been folded into a larger debate about whether the Sunshine State is growing too large, too fast. Many of the hyperscale data center proposals in Florida have been brought to rural communities where residents want to be close to nature, not a massive industrial project.

Yet there’s no guarantee a candidate gets elected based on their data center position, and it’s difficult to pinpoint a political victory or defeat to one particular issue. And while more people oppose data centers than support them, the issue isn’t black and white.

In Republican Polk County, where a data center proposal has run into significant local pushback, candidate Kelly Quinn is running to unseat incumbent Rick Wilson in a county commission primary open to all voters. Quinn has made a data center moratorium and stricter rules for hyperscalers a key part of her campaign. Wilson has been less outspoken on the issue, but has the backing of the county’s Republican Party.

GOP County Chair Sam Romain said data centers are on the minds of local Republican voters, but that hasn’t moved other political issues down the list.

“The development issue is widespread,” he said. “I do think the data center conversation leans into that. I just don't think that it's a No. 1 issue for most voters. I think it ends up being a tiebreaker issue.”