In February, Hood County, Texas, asked state Attorney General Ken Paxton if it had the authority to temporarily block data center development.
Almost six months later, Paxton, the Republican U.S. Senate candidate, still hasn’t weighed in. He’s remained relatively quiet on the data center issue, which he called “complicated” during an interview with Valuetainment released in May.
Meanwhile, Paxton has benefited from hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of data center industry money pouring into his political operation.
Paxton’s complicated and lucrative relationship with the data center industry is fast becoming a liability. Polls indicate that Texas voters are rebelling against data center construction, and his own poll numbers are sagging.
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James Talarico, Paxton’s opponent, who is seeking to become the first Democrat to win statewide office in Texas since the early 1990s, has called for more regulations on data center development. This includes repealing Texas’ data center sales-tax exemption, something Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has also asked state lawmakers to take up.
As lawmakers across the political spectrum talk about cracking down on data centers, industry PACs and executives have invested heavily in getting Paxton, who seems less inclined to do so, elected.
Neither the Paxton campaign nor the Texas attorney general’s office responded to requests for comment from NOTUS.
Through June, Paxton’s federal political operation has received at least $448,000 from executives and political committees of companies building, operating and investing in data centers, according to a NOTUS review of Federal Election Commission reports filed by several related political committees — his campaign, leadership PAC, joint fundraising committees and a pro-Paxton super PAC called Lone Star Liberty PAC.
On June 30, SAGO Energy LP contributed $100,000 to Paxton Victory, a joint fundraising committee that splits the money it receives among Paxton’s Senate campaign and leadership PAC and the National Republican Senatorial Committee. SAGO Energy is owned by WTG Energy, which also provides energy for data centers — and may have run afoul of federal campaign finance law, which prohibits corporations from contributing to candidates.
Tyler Winklevoss, founder of Winklevoss Capital Management and the cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, also donated $13,500 to Paxton Victory on June 30. One of Winklevoss Capital’s portfolio companies, Crusoe Energy, provides data center infrastructure, and Winklevoss previously worked with a Dallas-based firm to develop gas-powered data centers.
CRH Americas Inc. PAC and Valero PAC also gave $5,000 each to Paxton’s campaign on June 30, according to the Paxton campaign’s July quarterly report. CRH, a building materials company, was working on more than 100 data center projects this spring, according to Yahoo Finance. Valero is best known for its fuel stations, but Valero Energy has a 25-acre data center outside San Antonio, according to Bloomberg.
The list goes on: At least 17 corporate PACs and executives that invest in, build or operate data centers have donated to Paxton’s political operation, according to NOTUS’s analysis of FEC data.
Paxton defeated longtime Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) in an upset primary runoff victory in May.
But Paxton needs all the money he can get: While his Senate campaign had raised more than $9.2 million as of June 30, it entered the summer campaign stretch with almost $1.8 million in cash on hand, according to the latest report to the FEC.
That’s significantly less than the Talarico campaign, which had more than $21.5 million in cash on hand as of June 30, according to its latest FEC report.
The Texas Senate race leans Republican, according to the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, but recent polling has found Talarico with a slight lead.
“Paxton is in the fight of his life,” Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller told NOTUS. When asked about the political liability of accepting donations from the data center industry while keeping out of the policy fray, said Paxton was likely “trying to stay out of controversy.”
But, he added, Republicans overall “need to get right on the issue and defend the people’s position, or they’re likely to get beat.”
Talarico’s political operation has arguably benefitted from data center industry interests, including a $10 million donation to the pro-Talarico super PAC Lone Star Rising from LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, who has invested in and advocates for the role of data centers in providing much-needed computing power. But unlike Paxton, Talarico has presented a platform for regulating data centers.
The issue of whether to facilitate the creation of data centers — facilities filled with equipment to store, process and send data across networks, enabling people to stream shows, query artificial intelligence platforms or tap a card at checkout — have emerged as a flash point in the state, and across the country.
Concerns that these power-hungry sites will increase electricity prices, divert water resources, pollute the environment and disrupt communities with widely cited noise, including from backup generators, have prompted public backlash that’s had data center developers and operators on the backfoot.
The Texas Tribune identified at least 335 data centers operating in Texas — the second highest number after Virginia — with at least 248 planned to arrive in the coming years. By 2030, Texas is projected to have the largest data center market in the world, according to the real estate advisory firm JLL.
Even when Texas communities push back on data center construction, there is little recourse. The Texas Tribune also reported that after a data center developer sued Hill County, Texas, in May for trying to impose a moratorium after community backlash, the county instead implemented a list of requirements for data center developers.
During Paxton’s interview with Valuetainment, which was published May 15, he framed the data center issue as a competition with China that the United States “cannot lose.”
“On the other hand, I have a lot of sensitivity to local communities that don’t want things built next to their neighborhoods,” Paxton added. “There’s always going to be tension between development and local needs, and I think that needs to be decided by local communities, potentially with the input of their state officials.”
In February, Hood County asked Paxton — in his capacity as attorney general — to decide whether the county has the authority to impose a moratorium on data center development.
As of Monday, the request is still “pending,” according to the attorney general’s website.
Meanwhile, data center donations to Paxton’s political team keep coming.
A few individual donors with ties to the data center industry made donations to Paxton’s campaign last fall.
Last November, Laurie Harrison, executive director of the Rosewood Corporation, donated $7,000 to Paxton’s campaign. One of Rosewood’s portfolio companies, General Informatics, owns at least three data centers.
In October 2025, Paxton’s campaign also reported receiving $7,000 each from David Capobianco, CEO of the private equity firm Five Point Infrastructure, which has moved into data center development, and his wife, Rosangela Capobianco. Albert Huddleston, managing partner at Aethon Energy, which announced a data center development partnership with Mitsubishi earlier this year, also gave $7,000 to Paxton’s campaign.
And the month before that, Paxton’s campaign received $2,000 from Farzad Vahid, CEO of data center supplier Fornida, and $2,500 from “C.M. Yokubaitis,” CEO of Data Foundry, which owns several data centers in Texas. “C.M.” appears to be co-CEO Carolyn Yokubaitis.
But donations exploded this spring as public sentiment soured on data centers.
Harrison contributed $100,000 to Paxton Victory on June 22, according to the joint fundraising committee’s latest report to the FEC. Huddleston chipped in another $3,500 to another joint fundraising committee, Team Paxton, at the end of June.
On June 26, Charles “Bubba” Saulsbury Jr. of Saulsbury Industries gave $100,000 to Paxton Victory. The company provides a range of engineering, construction and procurement services for data center development, according to its website, and Saulsbury himself is a prominent MAGA donor.
And on June 15, Todd Platt, CEO of Hillwood, a Texas-based real estate development company, donated $3,500 to Paxton’s campaign. Hillwood has been working on data centers for more than two decades, according to its website, and developed a 400-acre data center north of Fort Worth.
In May, the Ken Paxton Victory Fund, another joint fundraising committee that splits money between Paxton’s campaign and leadership PAC and Lone Star Liberty PAC, reported receiving $17,000 from Seth Crawford, vice president of land at Black Mountain Energy Storage, which is developing a data center near Forth Worth. Jason Les, CEO of data center developer and operator Riot Platforms, chipped in $1,000.
The committee also reported receiving $10,000 from Javier Loya, founder of GetChoice!, a utility management consultant for data centers, and $7,000 from John Durham, CEO of JV Industrial Companies, which operates a data center in La Porte, Texas.
On May 19, William Kent, CEO of the Kent Companies, gave $50,000 to Lone Star Liberty PAC. Kent Companies is a data center construction company operating in Texas and across the United States, according to its website.
None of the donors or companies immediately responded to NOTUS’ requests for comment on their contributions to Paxton’s political operation.
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