Energy costs take focus in Virginia’s 7th District race
Data center development is one of several issues in Virginia’s 7th Congressional District race. Rep. Eugene Vindman supports legislation requiring large data centers to pay additional electricity infrastructure costs, while other candidates also favor making developers cover project-related expenses.
Electricity costs, housing affordability and data center development are among the issues in Virginia’s 7th Congressional District race, which includes Fredericksburg, parts of Prince William County and other Northern and Central Virginia communities. Democratic Rep. Eugene Vindman is seeking a second term against Republican Doug Ollivant and four other candidates.
Vindman introduced the Make Data Centers Pay Act, which would require data centers and other computing facilities with electricity demands of at least 20 megawatts to cover additional costs of serving their power needs. Libertarian candidate Taner Lopez proposed a separate measure requiring approval from two-thirds of directly affected property owners before major data center projects could proceed, while independent candidate Joshua Ertle also said developers should pay infrastructure costs. The article focuses on the candidates’ positions rather than a specific data center project.