Debate over data centers heats up race for governor
Georgia’s gubernatorial candidates are offering sharply different approaches to regulating data center growth. Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms supports a statewide temporary pause to study environmental, community and electricity impacts, while Republican Rick Jackson favors local control with regulatory guardrails and potential tax benefits.
Georgia gubernatorial candidates Keisha Lance Bottoms and Rick Jackson are presenting opposing plans for the state’s rapidly expanding data center industry. Bottoms has proposed a statewide temporary pause on new construction to examine effects on local communities, the environment and utility bills. She made the proposal during a press conference in Cobb County, where commissioners have extended a local data center moratorium until early 2027.
Jackson supports allowing county governments to approve or reject projects, combined with stricter environmental standards and greater transparency around tax incentives and utility costs. Supporters, including Georgia Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Chris Clark, say local control could attract investment and reduce property taxes, while residents and advocates argue that individual counties lack leverage against developers and that projects can affect neighboring communities. OpenAI’s proposed $20 billion data center in Effingham County is cited as an example of the scale of development prompting the debate.