Data center backlash playing out in Arkansas’ local races, not statewide or federal campaigns

All politics is local, as the adage goes. In Arkansas, this year’s midterm campaigns are revealing that data center politics is primarily local too.

The concern over data centers has prompted a local backlash in Arkansas, with several communities enacting measures to block their construction or impose new restrictions. 

But unlike in states like Ohio and Texas where data centers have become one of the leading issues in the midterm election, the political fallout in Arkansas hasn’t been as prominent in top races for governor, Congress or the Legislature. Data centers and artificial intelligence have mostly come up in local races.

The lack of campaign resources for Democrats has likely played a role, said Jay Barth, a professor emeritus of politics at Hendrix College.

“It is interesting that there has not been more engagement on that issue,” Barth said. “I think that is an issue that I think would have probably popped up more assertively if there had been more expansive campaigns.”

Data center construction has accelerated amid a race by major technology companies to develop AI models and products. That data center blitz has run into local worries about energy and water use, and suspicions about the promises of large numbers of jobs or tax revenue for local schools.

That’s not to say that opposition to the data centers has lessened. Polling of likely voters in the 2nd Congressional District conducted by Talk Business & Politics and Hendrix College in August found that more than half of Arkansans are strongly opposed to a data center being built in their community, with nearly 19% somewhat opposed.

The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.7 percentage points.

The sentiment in Arkansas has largely mirrored national trends, said Robert Coon, a strategist and consultant for Republican campaigns.

When data centers come up on the campaign trail, Democrats have mostly been on the attack — though opposition to data centers is bipartisan. Democratic challenger Hallie Shoffner has gone after Republican U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton on the topic, and said she wants to be on the Senate Energy Committee in response to the concerns about data centers. Shoffner’s campaign stops have included Clarksville, where a $6.6 billion data center project is under construction. 

It’s also come up in at least one race for the state legislature. Former Republican Rep. Debra Hobbs, who is running to represent Clarksville as an independent, has taken aim at data centers too — as well as her opponent’s support of tax incentives for building the projects. Incumbent Republican Rep. Aaron Pilkington of Knoxville is a prominent supporter of the data centers, becoming the executive director of the Arkansas Connected Communities Association, a pro-data center and pro-AI advocacy nonprofit, earlier this year. 

Data centers have resonated more at the local level. Former circuit and appeals court Judge Wendell Griffen, the Democratic nominee for Pulaski County’s top executive office, spearheaded a monthslong fight to pass land-use regulations for the centers in unincorporated Pulaski County. The regulations were spurred by community anger over a planned data center. In Conway, residents have been pushing for the ouster of some city council members in part due to anger over a data center proposal in the area.

Griffen was a regular presence at quorum court meetings, speaking forcefully and at length during public comment about his belief that the regulations were necessary. 

His Facebook posts on the topic were equally detailed. At one point, Griffen posted on Facebook an “independent transparent analysis” of the proposed regulations that he said was generated by ChatGPT, an AI model — the development of which by companies like Google, Anthropic and OpenAI is a primary driver of the rapid data center buildout nationwide. 

“Judge Griffen did a good job of becoming an advocate for (regulations) in a very visible way, and that kind of elevated the issue in the midst of that campaign,” said Barth. But overall, data centers aren’t having the campaign impact here that they’re having in states like Ohio and Texas, he added.

Griffen’s opponent, Republican Michael Rushin, said he was neither “for nor against” data centers “as a category” when weighing in on the debate recently. He took issue with the regulations authored by Griffen because he believed it would get the county sued — which happened two days after the quorum court overrode the current county judge’s veto on them.

Other AI-related issues have also been playing out at the local level, sometimes in unusual ways. In the Little Rock mayor’s race, City Director B.J. Wyrick appeared to make Flock cameras an issue in her bid to unseat incumbent Frank Scott. A 40-second video Wyrick posted on social media depicts floating eyeballs as a parody of the Rockwell song “Somebody’s Watching Me” plays and refers to thousands of Little Rock cameras. According to the Little Rock Police Department’s Flock transparency portal, it operates 114 Flock cameras. 

Coon said candidates who support the centers likely aren’t bringing them up on the campaign trail. When the centers do come up, he said, it’s likely not the facilities themselves that move the needle.

“I think that, from a messaging standpoint, I think it’s probably easier for people to leverage impacts rather than just saying, you know, a candidate is pro-data center versus anti-data center,” Coon said. He pointed to Cotton’s proposed DATA Act, which would make it easier for data centers to produce their own electricity, as an example.

“I think Sen. Cotton in particular has a really interesting proposal that he’s put out, which probably has helped insulate him from some criticism over data centers,” Coon said. “For someone who likes the idea of data centers, you’re taking away a large chunk of controversy when you’re talking about, ‘Why can’t data centers bring their own power to the grid,’ right?”

MAP: More Arkansas communities putting data centers on hold

Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders has expressed support for data centers in the past but has also touted her efforts to preserve state-level AI regulations alongside other governors last year. Sen. Fred Love, the Democratic candidate challenging her, pushed for a non-binding resolution to encourage a statewide moratorium in August. It was referred to a committee and hasn’t been voted on.

In the same way that data centers themselves aren’t always the topic moving the needle, Coon said they aren’t always the “bad guy.” The way Entergy Arkansas has handled a utility rider to build several new power generation plants — including one that will power Google’s West Memphis data center — is a good example, he said.

“Affordability right now is such a hot issue, and making sure that people are not feeling like they’re subsidizing (data centers),” Coon said. “In many cases, I think people can feel that that’s the case.”

Barth said that while data centers may not be animating top races in Arkansas, changes to the Generating Arkansas Job Act, which allows utilities to begin charging ratepayers a rider to pay for power generation projects before they are built, and laws that municipalities have said tie their hands when it comes to regulating data centers will be among the biggest topics tackled by legislators next spring.

“I think it’s going to be the battle,” he said, alongside efforts to rein in spending on the state’s school voucher program. “I think it will be on that front, with the cost issue, and then I think it’s going to be a local control issue.”