PHILADELPHIA \u2014 Gov. Josh Shapiro made a declaration in the early days of his administration: Pennsylvania is open for business.<\/p>\n
The move would ultimately include promises to slash bureaucratic red tape, cut permit wait times, and offer a new direct line to Shapiro\u2019s office for major corporations hoping to set up shop in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n
Pennsylvania would \u201cmove at the speed of business\u201d and \u201cget stuff done,\u201d the new mottos used by his administration, he said. He\u2019s campaigning for reelection in November on the same catchphrases<\/a>, and boasting major successes like the 12-day repair of I-95<\/a> in 2023 that traditionally would have taken months to reopen as an example of how he can think outside the box to solve problems.<\/p>\n What\u2019s more: He sees delivering for residents \u2014 showing them government can actually solve problems \u2014 as the future of the national Democratic Party, while it searches for an effective message and messenger heading into the 2028 presidential primary, which he is widely expected to enter.<\/p>\n It was with this same spirit last summer that Shapiro announced the largest single private sector investment in Pennsylvania history:<\/a> Amazon committed $20 billion in Pennsylvania that included two data center campuses in Luzerne and Bucks Counties. Pennsylvania scored the project because of its promise to fast-track permitting and use tax breaks for the massive developments.<\/p>\n \u201cPennsylvania\u2019s gonna be better off. I think America\u2019s gonna be better off, because we\u2019re going to win the battle of AI supremacy and it\u2019s going to be done right here in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania,\u201d Shapiro said in an interview on CNBC\u2019s Squawk Box on the day he announced the deal.<\/p>\n But in a year\u2019s time, the politics \u2014 and public opinion on both sides of the aisle \u2014 have dramatically shifted on data center development. Shapiro\u2019s early welcome of data centers has created an opening for criticism from his gubernatorial opponent and members of his own party.<\/p>\n Yet efforts to cut red tape have proven to be slow and overblown: Only six data centers are actually under construction in Pennsylvania since the announcement, and 10 have received at least one state-level permit approval, according to Shapiro\u2019s office. Still, Shapiro\u2019s popularity is being evaluated by some voters and anti-data center activists on a perception that he moved too quickly and sacrificed the state\u2019s safety in favor of Big Tech.<\/p>\n \u201cI am all about legislators and decision makers getting s\u2014 done. This version of it is reckless and it\u2019s irresponsible and it\u2019s not actually serving our people,\u201d said Carrie Santoro, the executive director of progressive advocacy group Pennsylvania Stands Up who has been holding town hall meetings in communities around the state on data centers.<\/p>\n As public opposition to data center development has grown over the last year, Shapiro has begun to soften his position, citing his personal evolution<\/a> on the projects. He\u2019s gone from consulting Amazon and the data center industr<\/a>y earlier this year to draft data center incentives, to vowing his own executive actions to curb the projects<\/a> in communities that oppose them.<\/p>\n \u201cGovernor Shapiro intends to use all the tools available to him to stop the dozens of speculative data center projects that do not meet community needs and Pennsylvania should expect to hear more from him on that in the coming weeks,\u201d said Shapiro\u2019s press secretary, Rosie Lapowsky.<\/p>\n Now Shapiro, who otherwise maintains vast popularity ratings in the state, faces a vulnerability on one of voters\u2019 top priorities<\/a> as he heads into November, and a particularly sensitive concern among Democrats as he potentially vies for the party\u2019s nomination in two years.<\/p>\n A liability among some voters<\/p>\n Data centers were not broadly known or understood<\/a> by many until this year, as public outcry continues to grow.<\/p>\n Many states, including Pennsylvania, had already begun welcoming the major projects, and some hyperscale developers plan to spend billions of dollars to build them. Pennsylvania\u2019s General Assembly first approved a sales tax exemption for data center developments in 2021, when Shapiro\u2019s predecessor, Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf, was still in office.<\/p>\n Shapiro, for his part, initially embraced data centers as an economic opportunity for Pennsylvania, bringing union jobs for construction workers to build out the physical infrastructure for the computers running AI software. He also wanted to position Pennsylvania to inherit the most benefit from providing space for AI to operate, leading not only other states but also other countries in the race to advance new technology. He and U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pa., appeared together as early embracers of the technology and the massive buildings needed to power it, speaking together during McCormick\u2019s first AI summit in Pittsburgh last summer<\/a>.<\/p>\n But as communities began to push back against the rapid proliferation of data center proposals, in part to protect their water and energy resources, Shapiro adjusted.<\/p>\n Shapiro, like many elected officials, has changed his positions and rhetoric on the unpopular developments. He announced his Governor\u2019s Responsible Infrastructure Standards (GRID) as a way to incentivize developers to follow transparency and environmental requirements in order to receive tax breaks. And when the General Assembly failed to approve his GRID standards or any substantial data center restrictions, Shapiro said he\u2019d act on his own<\/a>, though it\u2019s still unclear what that will entail.<\/p>\n \u201cYou want to build a data center there? You\u2019ve got to bring your own power; you\u2019ve got to pay for your own power. You\u2019ve got to be transparent with the local community \u2014 tell them who the hyperscaler is, tell them what\u2019s going to go on there. You\u2019ve got to have a local benefits agreement to help that community. You\u2019ve got to protect the water sources that are used to cool off those facilities,\u201d he said in a June interview with GZERO<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Democratic governor has been lauded nationally for challenging PJM Interconnection<\/a>, which is the electric grid operator for Pennsylvania and 12 other states over its efforts to raise prices on ratepayers. He capped the price Pennsylvania consumers could pay through 2029, as residents fear rate hikes due to the data center boom.<\/p>\n But Shapiro\u2019s plan on data centers is too little, too late, Santoro said.<\/p>\n \u201cI saw the GRID proposal as him moving on this issue, and the thing that I am concerned about is he didn\u2019t move enough to keep up with how much voters have moved on this issue,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Some of those voters would agree. A Quinnipiac University poll of Pennsylvania voters, conducted in early June, found just 24% of those surveyed \u2014 and 40% of Democrats \u2014 approved of \u201cthe way Gov. Josh Shapiro is handling data centers in Pennsylvania.\u201d It\u2019s a stark contrast to Shapiro\u2019s overall approval numbers, in which he\u2019s maintained above 50% approvals \u2014 record-high favorability ratings for a first-term Pennsylvania governor.<\/p>\n Joanna Tenney, 36, of East Vincent in Chester County, held a sign at a June rally in the state Capitol that read: \u201cShapiro: Amazon\u2019s bootlicker.\u201d A registered Democrat, she voted for him in 2022, and believes he should be held accountable for supporting data center development in Pennsylvania that led to the fast-tracking of a now-stalled 125-acre data center project near where she lives.<\/p>\n She\u2019s so fed up with Shapiro\u2019s approach to data centers that she said will be writing in the name of her state senator, Sen. Katie Muth, D-Chester, who has been on the front lines of advocating for many state environmental issues, for governor on her November ballot. Tenney said she and a few other anti-data center advocates plan to run a write-in campaign for Muth.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve elected somebody that we thought was going to make the right choices by us, and we don\u2019t really see that happening,\u201d Tenney said.<\/p>\n Muth, who took office in 2018, said she would not be supporting Shapiro or \u201cany elected official who puts the interests of Big Tech ahead of the health, safety, and future of Pennsylvania communities.\u201d<\/p>\n If Shapiro changes his stance on data centers, she would support him, Muth said. She is the prime sponsor of a bipartisan bill to place a three-year moratorium on hyperscale data center development.<\/p>\n \u201cGet right on the issue, Right your wrongs. If you can\u2019t be on the side of science and people, my support is MIA,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n Emily VanFleet, 26, lives in Archbald in Northeastern Pennsylvania, where six data center projects are underway comprising more than 50 buildings that, when completed, will cover 14% of the town<\/a>. VanFleet, who is an unaffiliated voter, said she also supported Shapiro in 2022. But because of his public support for speeding up data center development in Pennsylvania, she is \u201ccertainly not going to vote for him this upcoming election,\u201d she said. She isn\u2019t sure she\u2019s going to vote at all.<\/p>\n \u201cI want Shapiro to stop being a coward,\u201d VanFleet said in June. \u201cI have emailed him, I have called him, I have reached out to him so many times. I have not heard back, not once. I see his videos all over social media that he has an open-door policy, but I have yet to see it.\u201d<\/p>\n But negative attitudes toward Shapiro\u2019s position on data centers may be limited statewide and his position is unlikely to dramatically knock down his high popularity or reelection odds: The June Quinnipiac poll found 56% of those surveyed approve of the way he is handling his job as governor overall, and recent polling shows Shapiro ahead 53% to 40%<\/a> against his Republican challenger, state Treasurer Stacy Garrity.<\/p>\n The data center pitfall<\/p>\n Shapiro\u2019s political opponents \u2014 both immediate and prospective \u2014 are also seizing on the issue.<\/p>\n Garrity, the GOP nominee endorsed by President Donald Trump<\/a>, made her first TV ad an attack on Shapiro\u2019s support for the Amazon project and other data center developments \u2014 even as Trump himself has remained open<\/a> and excited about AI and data centers.<\/p>\n Garrity, of Athens in Northeastern Pennsylvania, has also led a statewide listening tour on the topic. In June, she convened one of those sessions in Hatfield with a group of commissioners, zoning planners and emergency responders to talk about how they have been impacted by data centers. She blasted Shapiro for his role in attracting Amazon and said his proposed new requirements amount to a \u201cflip flop.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJosh Shapiro has failed on this topic. He was the biggest cheerleader for data center development in Pennsylvania, until he wasn\u2019t,\u201d Garrity said at the June 24 meeting.<\/p>\n Garrity has her own mixed record on data centers.<\/p>\n At the time of the Amazon announcement, Garrity called the investment \u201cgreat news<\/a>\u201d that would bring \u201chistoric investment\u201d and \u201ccreate thousands of jobs.\u201d And her current position remains unclear. She has said she opposes a statewide moratorium but wants \u201ca pause\u201d on development instead.<\/p>\n Like Republicans running in districts that supported Trump in 2024 but oppose data centers, she appears to be attempting to find a pro-business and pro-regulation path.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to make sure data centers are an addition to the grid, not a contraction. If there\u2019s infrastructure that needs to be added to the grid, rate payers shouldn\u2019t be paying for it,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m not opposed to data centers, but we have to do them the right way, and we haven\u2019t done it. It\u2019s because of a lack of leadership from the government.\u201d<\/p>\n Garrity\u2019s \u201clong record of supporting completely unregulated data center development makes it clear that she just can\u2019t be trusted,\u201d said Manuel Bonder, a spokesperson for Shapiro\u2019s campaign.<\/p>\n More recently, Garrity has said she would prevent data centers construction<\/a> on prime agricultural fields.<\/p>\n Local government leaders said at Garrity\u2019s campaign roundtable in June that there has been lack of guidance around issues, especially around power demand, water use, infrastructure, environmental impacts, and community compatibility.<\/p>\n Kathie Doyle, a Republican on the Richland Township Board of Supervisors, said confusion around data centers have \u201cset off a firestorm\u201d in her community. Earlier this year, warnings of a supposed proposal for a data center in the Bucks County township circulated on social media, but turned out to be a \u201cbusiness park<\/a>\u201d with two buildings.<\/p>\n \u201cOur residents don\u2019t understand that we just cannot say no,\u201d she said. Municipalities in Pennsylvania cannot outright ban data center development.<\/p>\n Santoro said Shapiro\u2019s inconsistency is a liability that could sway some voters away from casting their ballot for him.<\/p>\n \u201cCertainly he is giving her an \u2018in\u2019 by staying on the wrong side of this,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n And it\u2019s not just Republicans seizing on Shapiro\u2019s position. The early reputation Shapiro earned as a champion of data centers may become a point of attack among other Democratic contenders for the presidency in 2028, too. In a veiled jab at Shapiro in June, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, knocked Pennsylvania on a business podcast for allowing Constellation Energy to restart Three Mile Island nuclear plant just to power Microsoft\u2019s data centers.<\/p>\n \u201cMy guess is that\u2019s going to be a reasonably unpopular thing to have done,\u201d Pritzker said, without noting Shapiro by name on the Prof G Markets podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n Vulnerability for down-ballot Democrats<\/p>\n