Infrastructure for the future economy is being built, but not in states controlled by the Democratic Party. Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) joined Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) this week in banning new data center construction. They join Democratic governors in 10 other states that have passed legislation or signed executive orders making it harder for investors to create jobs and develop new power generation in their state.
States governed by Republicans, including Indiana, Louisiana, Texas, and Utah, are creating hundreds of thousands of new jobs while also adding capacity and reliability to local electricity grids.
On Monday, OpenAI, the artificial intelligence company, announced that it will lease eight gigawatts of computing capacity at the PORTS-Pike Technology Campus in Pike County, Ohio. SB Energy, an energy and infrastructure company backed by the Japanese conglomerate SoftBank, will build, own, and operate the campus, while chipmaker Nvidia will supply the AI computing infrastructure. The project is expected to create 35,000 construction jobs during its six-year buildout and 2,500 permanent operating jobs.
Gov. Mike DeWine (R-OH) has approached the project with proper prudence. Data centers are the future, he says, but they must “pay their own way.” His advice to communities is to “cut a good deal,” conserve water, protect ratepayers, and then build.
Pike County Commissioner Tony Montgomery has embraced that approach, calling PORTS-Pike a “game changer” that can help keep his struggling Appalachian community “alive” and “viable.”
Energy is the biggest concern for many residents, and PORTS-Pike is addressing it directly. SoftBank and SB Energy plan 10 gigawatts of new power generation, including at least 9.2 gigawatts of natural gas generation. SB Energy is also paying for $4.2 billion in new AEP Ohio transmission infrastructure, including high-voltage lines and substations. A dedicated data center rate is supposed to ensure that the project, not the people of Ohio, pays those costs, while excess generation and transmission capacity can serve the broader grid, making electricity more affordable and reliable for the entire community.
Water is being handled in a similar sensible fashion. The campus will use closed-loop, air-cooled systems that recirculate water instead of cooling towers that continually evaporate it. Once the system is filled, water consumption should be comparable to that of an office building supporting a similar number of people.
Compare Ohio’s action with Democratic rhetoric. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) says data centers will drive up electricity costs and that AI will have a “catastrophic impact” on working-class people and has called for a nationwide moratorium on new AI data centers. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who introduced the House version of Sanders’s moratorium bill, says data centers are causing “existential harm” and that Congress must “choose humanity over profit.” (On a side note, it would be interesting to know how much more of the word “existential“ is used these days than it was 10 years ago — it has spread across political rhetoric, like a nasty rash).
This Democratic campaign against data centers turned public opinion sharply against them, including among some Republicans. Gallup found 71% of the public opposed building AI data centers in their local area, with 56% of Democrats, 48% of independents, and 39% of Republicans strongly opposed. A Reuters-Ipsos poll similarly found 57% opposed a data center in their community, including about two-thirds of Democrats and half of Republicans. Most importantly, 77% worried that data centers would raise electricity prices.
Despite Democrats’ best efforts, the public has not turned against building altogether. An Echelon Insights poll found 68% would welcome an Amazon distribution center in their community, 67% a traditional factory, and 49% a semiconductor plant, but just 27% an AI data center. Months of warnings about strained water supplies and higher electric bills have clearly taken a toll. Those risks are real when developers are allowed to shift infrastructure costs onto surrounding communities, but PORTS-Pike shows they can be addressed.
Communities that manage those risks are already seeing benefits. Amazon’s $10 billion Wharton County, Texas, project promises thousands of construction jobs and hundreds of permanent jobs. Oregon officials say Amazon facilities have significantly increased Port of Morrow property tax and payment-in-lieu-of-tax revenue. And in Ellendale, North Dakota, data center development helped push sales tax collections from roughly $400,000 annually before the boom to $3.5 million in just the first seven months of 2026.
The question, then, is whether elected officials want to manage these projects responsibly or simply stop them from being built. Ohio voters will face that choice in November. Democrat Sherrod Brown has called for a moratorium on new data center development while hammering Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH) for arguing that local governments and residents should decide whether to welcome projects and negotiate the benefits.
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Data centers are not inevitable. Governments can welcome them, make developers pay their own way, and enjoy the jobs, investment, tax revenue, and technological advantages they bring — or they can regulate and prohibit them out of existence. PORTS-Pike shows that the legitimate concerns surrounding data centers can be addressed.
America should be building the infrastructure of the digital economy, not finding new reasons to stop.