Remember when a multibillion-dollar data center project in Falls Township was a political trophy touted by Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) and Democrats from Harrisburg to Bucks County? Now, with the election less than six weeks away, some politicians are making a dash for the door and peddling protection from probable data-center-caused disasters.
In the months before the November 3 election, the data center suddenly became the boogeyman. In the race for purple Bucks County’s First Congressional District, data facility development has been weaponized by the trailing Democratic candidate Bob Harvie, a Bucks County commissioner, who is calling for a moratorium on data centers he once supported close to home.
Harvie is running attack ads against incumbent Republican Brian Fitzpatrick, accusing him of taking Big Tech money and voting for multibillion-dollar tax breaks. The moderate Fitzpatrick denies the “baseless” accusation and supports bills that protect ratepayers near data facilities, he says.
Here and across the country, candidates on both sides of the aisle are focused on this issue and staging dramatic, pre-election about-faces, frenetically retreating from the tech industry warehouses they once courted. Some are imposing moratoriums or other guardrails on data centers to appease furious constituents. After all, Gallup News reported 58 percent to 75 percent of Americans oppose the local development and construction of new such warehouses, a catalyst for economic progress.
Shapiro initially rolled out the red carpet for Big Tech and its data buildings but, in this election year, the governor has lately busied himself promoting strict regulations. His Republican opponent Stacy Garrity’s position on data centers also evolved toward hostility as public sentiment in Pennsylvania became more critical of the buildings’ alleged negative impacts. Once a voice for rapid growth, the state treasurer attributes her shift to the supposed energy and noise problems she has heard about from Pennsylvanians.
Politicians also are tapping into the not-in-my-backyard anxieties that surfaced quickly here in Bucks County and changing their message for those who deplore the assumed negative community impact of the Falls Township data center. Everyone has a position they want you to hear before the upcoming general election. “We’re with you,” is the message.
And governors are sounding a warning bell now. Govs. Kathy Hochul (D- N.Y.) and Greg Abbott (R-TX) both enacted data center development pauses in their respective states. Governors imposing strict guardrails include Shapiro, Wes Moore (D-MD), Gavin Newsom (D-CA), and J.B. Pritzker (D-IL).
We should not and cannot stop progress, but industry can make technology safer and smarter with better solutions. The tech companies and utilities, as we saw during a public meeting at Pennsbury High School East last July, intend to do that. Sponsored by Falls Township and the state Department of Environmental Protection, the agenda included speakers from PECO, Amazon, developer North Point, and the Morrisville Municipal Authority, all of them eager to answer questions about the Amazon Web Services facility getting built in the Keystone Trade Center. It sprawls over the former site of U.S Steel’s Fairless Works. Going atop a 250-acre expanse, the building will total two million square feet. In a matter of months, it became the target of community opposition based on suspected costs, particularly for electricity and water usage.
In June 2025, Shapiro, state Sen. Steve Santarsiero (D-Doylestown), and state Rep. Jim Prokopiak (D-Levittown) joyfully welcomed the AWS center’s establishment, praising its economic benefits. But many months later, local opposition erupted, and other Bucks localities — some with essentially no chance of getting a data center — feverishly inked ordinances purporting to protect their communities. And as elections started nearing, Democrats had little to talk about other than President Donald Trump, so their campaign strategy shifted to dissing data centers and Big Tech billionaires.
In our amazing, technologically advanced world, everything is moving fast — including our data-center-embracing competitors. But we Americans tend to approach elections by putting many important things on hold. By making data centers the new political boogeyman, state and local leaders who chose to make a voter-appeasing U-turn are beyond shortsighted. The future doesn’t wait for elections to end, and putting our nation’s progress on hold won’t stop change from arriving. It will only ensure we’re unprepared when it does.
