How politicians who once championed data centers, including Greg Abbott and Josh Shapiro, are now slowing their development as the issue becomes a liability
What changed this week is that the retreat reached the top. Abbott and Pennsylvania's Josh Shapiro — both of whom had previously welcomed these projects — are now slowing development themselves, with Shapiro imposing an executive order requiring local approval for new projects. When two governors who built their records on recruiting compute infrastructure start treating it as a liability, siting politics have flipped from an economic-development asset to an electoral risk.
First-order effects
Data center developers lose their most reliable allies: governors like Abbott and Shapiro who once streamlined approvals now add friction, with Shapiro's order handing local officials a veto point over projects.
Projects in Texas and Pennsylvania face longer, less predictable timelines as state-level recommendations and executive orders layer on top of local resistance like Hill County's one-year ban.
Second-order effects
Developers will chase friendlier jurisdictions, shifting site selection toward states and counties still courting data centers — which raises the bargaining power of any locality that can offer grid capacity without political blowback.
Rival governors who keep championing data centers gain a recruitment edge, but only until the same power-and-water concerns make the issue a liability in their states too; expect more executives to copy the cost-shifting and local-approval playbook rather than defend unconditional incentives.
Third-order effects
If cost-shifting requirements and local vetoes become the norm, data center economics reprice around who pays for grid upgrades and water — pushing the industry toward sites with existing surplus power and formal community sign-off as standard deal terms.
The pattern points to AI infrastructure being governed like utility buildout rather than economic development: permitting, ratepayer protection, and local consent becoming structural features of where compute gets built.
The trend: AI infrastructure is losing its political honeymoon, with siting decisions shifting from governor-led recruitment to locally gated, cost-internalized approvals — a test of whether the industry's social license can keep pace with its power demands.
We've got exclusive new polling on local data center development at @heatmap_news. Over the past year, we've asked Americans whether they would support or oppose a data center being built near where they live. We haven't changed the wording. When we first polled the question
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Politicians Who Once Championed Data Centers Are Now Bashing Them | State governors, including Greg Abbott and Josh Shapiro, are slowing development of the facilities as anger over AI spreads
Politicians Who Once Championed Data Centers Are Now Bashing Them | State governors, including Greg Abbott and Josh Shapiro, are slowing development of the facilities as anger over AI spreads
Politicians Who Once Championed Data Centers Are Now Bashing Them | State governors, including Greg Abbott and Josh Shapiro, are slowing development of the facilities as anger over AI spreads