President Donald J. Trump’s Ratepayer Protection Pledge lays out a clear, common-sense standard: America will dominate the AI race against China, and working families will not be left to finance the profits of big corporations.

That is the essence of America First leadership.

And there is no more consequential place to prove it than in Trump’s state.

Florida is not just another red state. What happens here sends a signal to every Governor, every County Commission, and every state Legislature watching from across the country. If Florida can build AI infrastructure the right way, accountable, community-focused, and protective of ratepayers, it proves the blueprint works.

If Florida fumbles it, opponents of American leadership in AI will use that failure as a weapon everywhere else.

The Fort Meade project in Polk County is a critical concrete test. The proposed $2.6 billion project would be Florida’s first facility of its kind and a major investment in the state. Aside from creating well-paying jobs, it would generate hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue for the city, reducing the burden on taxpayers and helping build vital infrastructure. The developer has also reduced projected water usage through a closed-loop cooling system, exactly the kind of environmental accountability that earns public trust.

Fort Meade Mayor Jaret Landon Williams has shown leadership, transparency, and integrity on this issue, holding open town halls, demanding accountability from the developer, and putting the community’s interests first throughout.

As a result, the City Commissioners unanimously approved the development agreement. These are local leaders doing the hard work for their communities.

Yet the same forces working to kill data center development in blue states have arrived in Florida. Leading the legal campaign against the project is Earthjustice, a California-based organization founded as the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund in 1971.

Also involved is Food and Water Watch, a group so extreme that they’ve attacked the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) as “shilling” for corporate interests. Food and Water Watch campaigns against nuclear energy, conventional fuels, and conventional farming techniques, and advocates for an immediate transition to 100% weather-dependent renewable energy.

To these extreme groups, Fort Meade is just a battlefield in a much larger campaign to block American AI infrastructure everywhere.

They are attempting to implement the agenda of Democratic Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, who have already introduced the AI Data Center Moratorium Act to impose a nationwide ban on new facilities. These are radical positions that certainly don’t represent Florida.

Congressman Byron Donalds, who is running for Governor of Florida, has been supporting Trump’s plan, which would advance economic growth while being clear that “these data center projects are going to have to prove that they’re not going to take away from the power grid, that they’re not going to raise utility prices on Florida consumers.”

The path forward is difficult but straightforward. Data centers built with genuine community engagement, transparent rate structures, real environmental accountability, and on-site power solutions will earn public support and deserve it.

The Fort Meade project, with its job creation, infrastructure commitments, and reduced environmental footprint, represents that standard. Florida’s leaders need to hold the line against a well-funded and ideologically coordinated campaign to shut it down and put Trump’s Ratepayer Protection Pledge into practice.

The rest of the country is watching. We can’t afford for Florida to let radical environmental groups, instead of local leaders, dictate the economic future of Polk County.

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Jenn Pellegrino is the founder of Defend Forgotten America Action, which seeks to champion forgotten communities and restore power to the people who built America. Jenn previously served as chief spokesperson for the America First Policy Institute, a primetime host for Newsmax, and a White House Correspondent during Trump’s first term.