Some elected officials and candidates for office have financial ties to data centers, an investment that’s quickly becoming a political liability as controversy grows around the facilities popping up across America.

Billions of dollars are pouring into the development of data centers, which require loads of electricity and water to operate, and demand is only growing with more artificial intelligence use. Some politicians support the development, saying it helps the U.S. keep up with international competitors and boost job and economic growth. Some condemn it, citing high resource demands that can spike utility rates for locals.

Some politicians, though, are financially tied to data center development.

Rep. Gil Cisneros, a California Democrat, reported buying stock in a data center supplier called Credo Technology in January and October. This year, Cisneros also reported trading stock in Oracle, a company investing billions into data centers.

Cisneros’ office did not respond to NOTUS’ request for comment. But Cisneros is not alone in Congress when it comes to making those kinds of trades.

Republican Rep. Rob Bresnahan of Pennsylvania bought stock last year in that same data center supplier — a stock that soon after would jump in value — while encouraging data center construction in his district, Politico reported.

Bresnahan has called for a congressional stock-trading ban but still regularly reports stock trades. He’s also tried to strike a balance in the past with his messaging about data centers, saying their development can help economic growth but shouldn’t come at the expense of local residents. An aide with his office told NOTUS he doesn’t trade his own stocks.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee called Bresnahan “the poster-child of Washington corruption by playing the stock market while using his office to hurt the community he’s supposed to represent” after the report of his stock trading came out.

“Democrats have been sort of in a weird place of balancing interest in the innovation that tech can bring to society with a lot of the concerns that people have about the physical infrastructure of AI and the way AI is being deployed,” Johanna Fornberg, senior research analyst at Greenpeace, told NOTUS.

Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, reported about a dozen stock trades, whose total value is between $84,000 and $385,000, for large data center companies this year, including Oracle, Equinix, Digital Realty Trust and American Tower Corp. These investments belong to Khanna’s family members, not Khanna personally. Simultaneously, Khanna has been striking a balance when it comes to messaging around data centers.

“I am not an AI accelerationist. I am not an AI doomer. I am an AI democratist,” Khanna wrote in a Fox News op-ed in February, elaborating on how data centers should provide for communities rather than strain them — but he doesn’t go as far as colleagues to his left who want bans on new data center development.

“I have spoken out against data centers being extractive. I am for strong regulation, environmental protections, community impact studies and ensuring tech companies pay for all electricity and water use and provide local communities with compute power,” Khanna told NOTUS in a statement.

In two races for governor — one in Oklahoma, one in Georgia — Republican candidates are under scrutiny over alleged investment in data centers.

Chip Keating, a former Oklahoma secretary of public safety who is running for governor, has advocated during his campaign for keeping data centers far away from neighborhoods.

Keating owns a percentage of VTX Communications, an internet and phone company, according to Federal Communications Commission documents. A notice from March on the Webb County Appraisal District’s website indicates that VTX Communications owns a property in Laredo, Texas, near the Mexican border — a property that several groups who track developments classify as a data center.

Inflect, a data center research platform, says on its website that the data center at that property is “robust.” Data Center Map, another research website, also classifies the property as a data center and includes an option to request a quote for services in the facility. Data Center Journal refers to the property as the “Laredo VTX Data Center.”

VTX Communications owns another property in Brownsville, Texas, according to the Cameron County Appraisal District’s website. FiberLight, a data center marketplace, lists both properties in Laredo and Brownsville as data centers — “VTX Laredo” and “VTX Brownsville.”

“There’s not a data center. It doesn’t exist,” Keating told NOTUS.

“This is a telecommunications business, so obviously someone has spun up something that is completely untrue,” he continued.

He said his opponents “have tried to draw this up” and accuse him of being in the hyperscaling data business — a way to refer to large companies that build lots of data centers for AI use. “That’s furthest from the truth. I’ve never been in that business and nor will I ever be in that business,” he said.

“I’m a firm believer in local control, but we’re going to have to put guardrails in place,” Keating said of data center regulation, adding that should he win, groundwater, aquifers and power resources would not be abused.

Data centers, and those who support them, can be unpopular with the public. Voters in a St. Louis suburb ousted half of their City Council last week over its approval of a $6 billion data center project. Lawmakers in Maine passed the nation’s first statewide ban on large data centers last week that would institute a moratorium on new data centers for 18 months if signed by Gov. Janet Mills.

A Washington Post poll published last week found only 35% of voters in Virginia, a hot bed of data center construction, would support new construction of data centers in their area. A Politico poll conducted in January found nearly half of Americans expect data centers to be a campaign issue where they live within the next five years, though the majority did support some kind of data center development in the United States.

This backlash is translating into some pushback by state-level elected officials in ruby-red Oklahoma and across the country, despite the Trump administration and congressional lawmakers’ ties to the tech industry. Nationwide, 20 data center projects, and an estimated $98 billion in potential investment, were blocked or delayed due to local opposition during a three-month period in 2025, according to research firm Data Center Watch.

Mitch Jones, the deputy director at Food and Water Action, a political lobbying group, told NOTUS that investment in data centers may open candidates “to a line of attack” across the political spectrum. Jones said there’s a “very strong contingent” on the MAGA right who opposes data centers, including rural voters with water and land use concerns.

But, Jones said, President Donald Trump’s push for a tech boom and his megaphone may put Republicans at an advantage when it comes to data center messaging.

“I do think that even within the Republican Party, there is a growing concern on these things, and that that can impact these politicians’ ability to be successful this cycle,” Jones said. “But they do have that shield of Trump and the Trump administration promoting AI to give them a certain amount of buffer.”

In the Georgia governor’s race, Republican candidates are embracing and condemning data center investment — and throwing shots at one another either way.

Rick Jackson, a billionaire health care executive vying for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, told the TV station WMAZ in early April that he invests in a data center in Texas, saying that investment is the reason he’s “knowledgeable” about data centers and the business opportunity that could come with them.

“I have an investment there, so I’m just familiar with the economics. That’s the reason that I’m bullish for Georgia,” Jackson said. His campaign did not respond to NOTUS’ request for comment for more details on his investment.

Trump has endorsed Lt. Gov. Burt Jones in that race where opponents are lambasting him for using his position to push a $10 billion data center project in Butts County, Georgia.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that the project was backed by Jones and his family and could include 11 million square feet of data centers and a hospital. That’s 55 times the size of an average data center.

Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, a Republican also seeking the governor’s office, accused Jones of using his position to “enrich” himself and his family, referencing Jones’ support for a law that loosens regulations on where hospitals can be built that may have carved a path for the megaproject, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

Jones recently stood in a field while taking a video of himself, panning the camera around to give viewers a picture of a grass-filled, empty pasture.

“My opponent has spent literally $20 million trying to make you believe that I own a data center, or my family owns one, or whatever,” Jones said in the video, referring to Jackson in his caption. “I just came to the property where they’re claiming it is. Guess what? Here it is. Here it is. I tell you what, it’s lies, lies, lies.”

A spokesperson for Carr’s campaign, Julia Mazzone, doubled down when NOTUS asked about Carr targeting Jones.

“Burt Jones owes it to Georgians to tell the truth about this project, its ties to his family’s land, and whether he is using public office for private financial gain. It is deeply inappropriate for public officials to use their office for personal gain. Is he serving the people of Georgia, or his own bottom line?” Mazzone said in a statement.

“Chris supports responsible economic development, but projects like this need transparency, local input, and clear protections for the communities affected. We are not going to force data centers on communities that don’t want them,” she continued, adding that Carr does not invest in any data centers.

Kayla Lott, a spokesperson for Jones’ campaign, told NOTUS in a statement: “The property in question is an undeveloped piece of pasture land. Period. There is no contract and no data center.”