Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has made an abrupt pivot on a key development policy, pausing all data center projects in the state and ordering an audit.
Data centers have become a political flash point for both parties, with voters enraged about their use of resources and their powering of an increasingly distrusted AI industry. And for Abbott to respond this way to the fury as he seeks re-election, Semafor's David Weigel told MS NOW's Katy Tur, is truly remarkable.
The Lone Star State, he said, has become "a case study of how fast this issue has moved under the feet of politicians," since "for all of Greg Abbott's time as governor," Texas "has had tax breaks for tech companies and for building their data centers. This is an attraction, from Abbott's perspective. Texas can take jobs from places like California, New York, etc."
Now, he has instituted a break-glass pause on development for the entire industry — and when you look at the polls, said Weigel, it's no surprise why.
"Pew has good polling on this AI coming in and taking away their livelihoods," said Weigel. "'There is just not a lot of techno-optimism among your average voters, and Republicans have been adapting to this very quickly" — with even the Trump administration, which has been full steam ahead on AI, pushing a "ratepayer protection pledge" to try to mitigate the effects of data centers on consumers' energy bills.
There are other issues lurking in the background as well, said Weigel.
"One thing that I think is going to come up next, Republicans, when they do want to build data centers, want to build coal and natural gas, and the kind of energy the White House likes," said Weigel, whereas Democrats are hitting them hard, tying their pro-AI policies to their anti-clean energy policies.
"With this carveout for energy, they're setting up another time bomb for themselves," said Weigel. "If the data center has a dirty energy plant as a component of why it came to your state, who wants to live near the data center? Not that many people. Who wants to live near a data center with a coal-burning energy resource next to it?"