Across Texas, opposition to data centers is becoming an election issue. Residents have organized against proposed sites, and groups with different political views have joined a statewide coalition seeking to stop or delay construction.
The concerns range from water and power use to tax subsidies and development near farmland. As candidates campaign in closely watched state races, they face voters who say the industry’s expansion affects their communities and livelihoods.
Local disputes are connecting communities
Texas NAACP president Gary Bledsoe describes opposition in several places around Austin and beyond. In Taylor, residents are fighting plans for a data center on a site intended to be a park. In Temple, local officials face recall attempts over developments, while San Marcos became the first city in Texas to ban data centers.
These disputes have helped bring together organizations that do not share a single political identity. The Texas NAACP joined dozens of groups in We the People Texas, a coalition that Bledsoe estimates represents as many as 1 million voters across the state.
Its members object for different reasons. Some worry about water in a drought-prone state; others question tax subsidies or oppose the gas plants, wind farms and transmission lines associated with growing electricity demand.
Voters are signaling broad resistance
An August poll found that 57 percent of Texans oppose building data centers. Opposition crossed party lines: 43 percent of Republicans, 75 percent of Democrats and 54 percent of independents were against construction.
That shared concern is shaping the political conversation ahead of the midterm elections. Governor Greg Abbott, who had described Texas as the “epicenter of AI development,” is seeking reelection against Democrat Gina Hinojosa. In the Senate race, Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton is running neck and neck against Democrat James Talarico.
Both races put candidates in front of voters who worry that data centers threaten local water, land and livelihoods. Candidates from both parties are trying to distance themselves from an industry that has established a strong presence in Texas, but voters remain dissatisfied with the status quo.
Tax incentives and infrastructure sharpen the debate
Texas has encouraged data center development through a sales and use tax exemption passed in 2013 under former Governor Rick Perry. In 2015, Abbott expanded it to cover hyperscale data centers. Qualifying developers can avoid state taxes on equipment and electricity for up to 20 years.
The cost of that policy has grown alongside the industry. The exemption was initially expected to cost taxpayers $14.6 million in 2014 and 2015. In 2025, state officials estimated it would mean $3.2 billion in lost sales tax revenue over two years.
Residents also point to the infrastructure needed to serve large facilities. Electricity bills have risen by 35.4 percent on average over the past five years as demand grows and utilities build new infrastructure. Bledsoe is concerned about air pollution around new gas plants, while local opponents also object to transmission lines and energy projects near farmland.
Water concerns extend beyond the data center site
Water use is another source of opposition. Data centers may reuse water used on-site to cool servers, but a larger share of their water footprint comes from electricity use. Power projects built to meet that demand, including gas and nuclear plants, also need water for cooling.
The state’s largest grid operator estimates data center electricity demand could increase nearly tenfold by 2030. The Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC) says Texas data centers consumed about 25 billion gallons of water last year, around 0.4 percent of total water use. HARC estimates that by 2030, the share could reach up to 2.7 percent of the state’s total annual water use.
For community organizers, these figures meet a local reality: projects are proposed in places where residents already have concerns about resources, land use and development. In the Texoma area bordering Oklahoma, residents delayed a proposed data center after a county commissioners’ meeting. That experience led Jet Parker, cofounder of Save Rural Texas, to create a handbook and train grassroots groups around the state.
The election question is whether resistance to data centers will translate into political consequences. The coalition’s members may disagree on many other issues, but their shared objections have made data center construction a common cause—and a subject candidates cannot easily set aside.