{"id":186846,"date":"2026-05-08T03:50:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T03:50:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/186846\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T03:50:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T03:50:15","slug":"data-centers-drive-fiery-dem-primary-debate-between-flynn-lake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/186846\/","title":{"rendered":"Data centers drive fiery Dem. primary debate between Flynn, Lake"},"content":{"rendered":"

SCRANTON \u2014 The controversial data center issue coloring local politics amid pronounced bipartisan opposition drove a contentious Democratic primary debate Thursday between incumbent state Sen. Marty Flynn and political newcomer Jeffrey Lake.<\/p>\n

Lake, a mental health and wellness counselor running an insurgent underdog campaign for the 22nd state Senate District seat Flynn\u2019s held since 2021, used data centers as a cudgel, accusing his opponent of supporting \u201can invasion of data centers\u201d and of generally underdelivering during his tenure in state office.<\/p>\n

Flynn, a former pugilist-turned-politician first elected to the state House in 2012 before winning his Senate seat, rejects the charge and touted his record. He noted, for example, his frontline role in galvanizing widespread opposition to precipitous rate hikes sought by Pennsylvania American Water in late 2023 \u2014 proposed rates the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission ultimately slashed in 2024 \u2014 and claimed he\u2019s delivered $130 million to the district.<\/p>\n

\"DemocraticDemocratic state Sen. Marty Flynn responds to questions during the Pennsylvania\u2019s 22nd Senate District Democratic Primary Election debate at Brennan Hall on the University of Scranton\u2019s campus in Scranton on Thursday, May 6, 2026. (REBECCA PARTICKA\/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)<\/p>\n

The lone debate between the candidates, hosted by the University of Scranton\u2019s Center for Ethics and Excellence in Public Service, was frontloaded with questions about data centers, a subject Lake steered the discussion back to several times during the roughly hourlong session.<\/p>\n

Asked how state Senate policy should balance the need for high-tech economic investment with increasing energy demands and the potential adverse impacts of data centers on local infrastructure and utility rates, Flynn said local control must be maintained.<\/p>\n

He identified a pair of legislative proposals by local state Reps. Kyle Mullins and Kyle Donahue, respectively \u2014 House Bill 2150, requiring data centers to provide annual reports on water and energy consumption, and House Bill 2151, which would establish an optional model data center zoning ordinance for municipalities to use for guidance \u2014 as \u201cgood starts.\u201d And he also endorsed House Bill 1834 \u2014 which seeks to establish a regulatory framework for data centers and prohibit electric distribution companies from using customers to pay for costs associated with the interconnection, service and load of data centers \u2014 noting he\u2019s introducing a companion bill to that legislation in the Senate.<\/p>\n

\"DemocraticDemocratic candidate Jeffery Lake answers questions during the debate at Brennan Hall on the University of Scranton\u2019s campus in Scranton on Thursday, May 6, 2026. (REBECCA PARTICKA\/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)<\/p>\n

While those three legislative proposals have all passed the Democratic-controlled state House, Flynn said he doesn\u2019t see the Republican-controlled state Senate \u201crunning those bills.\u201d Nonetheless, he said it\u2019s most important that \u201cwe keep local control within local government so that they can\u2019t just shove data centers down (on) the local municipalities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lake immediately criticized Flynn for having previously co-sponsored the bipartisan Senate Bill 939, which aimed to fast-track permitting for data centers while placing limits on local zoning to maintain uniformity across towns. Flynn, who ultimately removed himself as a co-sponsor, told the newspaper in February that he\u2019d vote against the legislation unless language taking away local control was removed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only answer here is that we need a three-year moratorium\u201d on data center development, Lake said. \u201cI\u2019ve been anti-data center since day one. I\u2019ve never changed on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Flynn said he could \u201csee a moratorium for 180 days (or) a year,\u201d but claimed a moratorium wouldn\u2019t stop proposed data center projects that had already begun the application process. He also stressed that he\u2019s never voted for data centers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was never a vote for data centers, yes or no, so how can anybody say how I stand for data centers or attack me on social media?\u201d he asked rhetorically. \u201cI\u2019ve never voted for them, or against them, but I am against 1000% data centers in neighborhoods, period.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DemocraticDemocratic incumbent Marty Flynn rebuts Democratic candidate Jeffery Lake during the 22nd Senatorial District debate at Brennan Hall on the University of Scranton\u2019s campus in Scranton on Thursday, May 6, 2026. (REBECCA PARTICKA\/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)<\/p>\n

Lake pushed back.<\/p>\n

\u201cMarty wants to talk about his stance, and of course there hasn\u2019t been a vote on data centers yet, however, what we do know is \u2026 he was, quote, 100% behind SB 939 before reading the details of the bill,\u201d Lake said. \u201cSecond, residential areas aren\u2019t the only spot where we have to be worried about.\u201d<\/p>\n

The primary election is set for Tuesday, May 19.<\/p>\n

Check back for updates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SCRANTON \u2014 The controversial data center issue coloring local politics amid pronounced bipartisan opposition drove a contentious Democratic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":186847,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[836,201,182,803,139,28,50,178,180,179,729],"class_list":["post-186846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-election","tag-lackawanna-county","tag-local-news","tag-luzerne-county","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-politics","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186846\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}