Florida Democrats court GOP voters who fear data centers

Por Kylie Williams — POLITICO – TOP Stories

FORT MEADE, Florida — Top Democratic candidates in Florida are taking tough stances against data centers in their midterm campaigns. And with less than six weeks until the election, they’re courting Republican voters who also oppose what’s emerged as a potent campaign issue this cycle.

State Rep. Angie Nixon, the progressive Democratic nominee for Senate, spent Monday night talking to residents in Fort Meade — a rural city of about 5,000 in a Republican-leaning county — about a nearby data center proposal that sparked heavy local opposition. Former Rep. David Jolly, the Democratic nominee for governor, has rolled out a social media campaign based on his recent visit to Virginia’s “Data Center Alley.” Both have aligned with the state’s burgeoning anti-data center sentiment and hammered their opponents’ positions on the issue.

“This is not just a Republican issue. It’s not about that,” Nixon told residents Monday. “This is a people issue. This is an environmental issue. When it comes to data centers, growth shouldn’t automatically be an obligation.”

Data centers have quickly become a contentious political issue this election cycle — with Republican and Democratic officials imposing stricter regulations on the facilities amid wide voter concerns that the centers will affect utility bills, the environment and public health.

Yet following the state’s primary elections in August, a partisan fault line has emerged in Florida. Nixon and Jolly both support clamping a moratorium on hyperscale data centers, placing them at odds with Republican opponents who haven’t gone as far. Florida Democrats have latched on to the issue, including launching a “Data Center Donalds” statewide tour to hammer GOP nominee for governor Rep. Byron Donalds.

Republican Sen. Ashley Moody, Nixon’s opponent who was appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) in early 2025, has waged a largely cautious campaign for reelection. Her public messaging on data centers is limited, though she said in an August interview with Fox News that data centers shouldn’t burden residents with higher costs or harm the environment and that communities should hold decision-making power. Donalds has been more outspoken on data centers and has said that Florida should be open to the industry’s development as long as citizens and the environment are protected.

Yet Republicans at the top of the ticket may be running into trouble in places like Fort Meade, where opposition to data centers has become a political flash point. In April, the city approved a development agreement for a 4.4-million-square-foot hyperscale data center that the developer argued would bring jobs to the area. Residents have vehemently opposed the proposal over concerns of water use, noise and environmental impact, and for some, data centers have become a top voting issue.

“A lot of people, they’re of the same feeling that party lines mean squat when it’s going to affect our community so much,” said Raul Alfonso, a resident who helped form the anti-data center group Watchdogs of Fort Meade. “We need somebody that’s going to protect us.”

Alfonso, a former independent who recently switched his registration to Republican, said residents have been frustrated by a lack of outreach from the party. Locals are looking for solutions and action, he said, but “we get a lot of lip service.” Alfonso said he may vote for Jolly this year and that he was undecided about the Senate but liked Nixon’s stance.

“I haven’t seen a contender that’s given as good of a sales pitch as that,” he said.

Locals have also been troubled by a $10,000 campaign contribution Donalds’ political action committee received from the company behind the Fort Meade data center, Alfonso said.

Donalds’ campaign, which has raised more than $110 million, has received significant financial backing from the tech and data center industries. The Anthropic-backed Public First Action has also spent up to $3.2 million on advertisements for Moody and up to $2.58 million on ads for Donalds.

Moody’s campaign declined to comment.

In a statement, Donalds campaign spokesperson Gates McGavick said, “Byron answers to no one other than the people of Florida.

“Byron will uphold Florida’s law signed by Governor DeSantis that protects local control so communities have the final say, keeps Floridians’ utility bills from rising because of a data center, and requires water use permits to protect Florida’s drinking water,” he said. “Byron will also sign a bill to add proximity protections — Byron doesn’t want a data center near his house or yours.”

Polk County, where Fort Meade is located, went to President Donald Trump by more than 20 percentage points in 2024. Yet for some Republicans there, data centers could take precedence over party allegiance in November.

“It could sway my vote one way or the other,” said Scott Lynch, a Republican resident who said he’s concerned about the proposed data center’s impact on the city’s water supply.

Lynch said he hadn’t decided who he would vote for in November, but that it’s “very possible” he’d be willing to break from Republicans based on data centers. He voted in the primary for GOP gubernatorial candidate Bobby Williams, a Polk County Republican who opposed data centers. Williams has now endorsed Jolly for governor.

Yet while data centers are top of mind for many voters, they may not sway everyone. The facilities might not loom as large for people who aren’t facing a proposal in their community. And after Monday’s town hall, some conservative-leaning attendees who cited data centers as a key issue said they weren’t convinced by Nixon’s answers.

Nixon maintains that flipping Republicans isn’t the point. She told voters Monday about growing up on a Superfund site in Jacksonville and said she knew “firsthand what happens when corporations get involved in things that negatively impact your community and the environment.” Mostly, Nixon said, she was there to listen.

“It’s not even about it just being an issue that can sway voters,” she told POLITICO. “It’s about doing the right thing, making sure people’s utility rates and light bills and electric bills don’t go up, making sure that they have clean water and clean air to breathe, and there’s no light pollution. Like, that’s what I care about.”

Fonte: POLITICO – TOP Stories