Where do Oregon candidates for governor stand on data centers?
The three leading Oregon gubernatorial candidates have endorsed different forms of a data center moratorium or development pause. Gov. Tina Kotek has ordered pauses on state land sales and certain air and water permits, while Christine Drazan supports a moratorium and Brett Smith favors a permanent ban on new data centers.
Oregon gubernatorial candidates Tina Kotek, Christine Drazan and Brett Smith have made data center development a central campaign issue amid opposition to the industry’s electricity use, environmental impacts and tax incentives. Drazan supports a moratorium and wants developers to provide greater community benefits, while Smith is calling for a permanent halt to new hyperscale data centers.
Kotek has pledged to propose statewide data center standards in 2027 and supports a temporary pause while those policies are developed. As governor, she ordered state agencies to stop advancing unapproved state-land requests for data centers and directed the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality to pause air and water permits for additional or expanded projects through July 1, 2027. She also signed the 2025 POWER Act, which established higher electricity rates for data centers and lower rates for residential Portland General Electric customers.