Candidates for Ohio governor focus on data centers in the last week of campaigns
Ohio gubernatorial candidates Amy Acton and Vivek Ramaswamy are making data centers a campaign issue. Acton has called for a conditional moratorium requiring developers to cover energy and tax costs and meet environmental and community standards, while Ramaswamy supports data centers under similar conditions but opposes property tax breaks.
Democratic Ohio gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton and Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy have launched competing campaign advertisements focused on data centers during the final week of the election. Acton has called for a conditional moratorium requiring data centers to pay their own taxes and energy costs, use union labor, meet environmental standards and secure community agreements. Implementing the proposal would likely require legislation from Ohio’s Republican-controlled General Assembly.
Ramaswamy has expressed support for data center development when projects provide a net benefit to local communities, but said facilities should cover their own energy costs, protect water quality, avoid unnecessary property tax breaks and preferably be built on former industrial sites. The campaigns are also attacking each other over investments connected to the data center industry, with Acton’s campaign saying she sold her individual stocks and a report stating that Ramaswamy held investments across sectors tied to data center development.