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Data centers are front and center in the battle for control of Pennsylvania’s legislature, which the Democrats have not held since 1994.
But the energy, environmental and existential issues that underlie the rapid development of hyperscale data centers don’t fall so neatly along party lines, resulting in TV, radio and digital ads from both sides of the aisle touting opposition to data centers, while painting opponents as pro-data centers.
It’s enough to confuse the average voter on where politicians stand. Regardless of political affiliation, most people oppose data centers.
“This has really brought together people from every party, Democratic, Republican, independent, it really is a unifying community issue,” said Chrissie Dziembowski, who lives between two proposed hyperscale data centers in Limerick Township. Those sites lie a mile in each direction from Dziembowski’s home in the tightly contested race for state Senate District 24, which straddles Montgomery and Berks counties. Dziembowski and her neighbors have been inundated with fliers, ads and visits from both major party candidates.
“There’s just a lot of money being poured into this race,” Dziembowski said. “I wouldn’t even say it’s a bipartisan [issue], I would say it’s nonpartisan.”
