Republican Ken Paxton’s U.S. Senate campaign has raked in hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations from the data center industry as Texans grow increasingly concerned about rampant development of the massive computing centers, political news outlet NOTUS reports.
Through June, Paxton’s campaign has received at least $448,000 from executives and political committees of companies building, operating and investing in data centers, NOTUS reports. The investigation reviewed Federal Election Commission reports filed by several related political committees, including Paxton’s campaign, his leadership PAC, his joint fundraising committees and a pro-Paxton super PAC called Lone Star Liberty PAC.
Paxton, who currently serves as Texas’ attorney general, has remained relatively mum on the topic.
In February, Hood County asked Paxton’s office if it had the authority to temporarily block data center development. He still hasn’t weighed in.
Instead, during a May appearance on entrepreneurial podcast Valuetainment, Paxton called the issue “complicated.” He framed the AI boom as a balancing act between staying competitive with “the enemy,” China, and protecting Texas residents’ quality of life.
Meanwhile, bipartisan opposition is rising up in Texas against the nation’s biggest AI boom.
Data centers have rushed into Texas to capitalize on the state’s tax incentives, reliable grid, wide open spaces and lax regulations. Yet a majority of Texans oppose data centers, according to a June poll by the University of Texas’ nonpartisan Texas Politics Project.
In contrast to Paxton’s murky pronouncements on data centers, his Democratic opponent in the November midterm elections, State Rep. James Talarico, is calling for more regulation of the industry. That includes repealing Texas’ data center sales-tax exemption.
The RealClearPolling average puts Talarico slightly ahead in the race. He also has significantly more money than his scandal-mired Republican opponent.
Despite the influx of data center donations, Paxton has only managed to raise roughly half as much as Talarico’s campaign as the contentious race enters the summer home stretch.
Paxton’s war chest reached $9.3 million as of June 30 with almost $1.8 million in cash on hand, according to the latest report to the FEC. However, the Talarico campaign had $21.5 million in cash on hand as of June 30, according to its latest FEC filing.
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