{"id":269929,"date":"2026-08-22T02:42:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T02:42:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/269929\/"},"modified":"2026-08-22T02:42:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T02:42:12","slug":"center-of-attention-data-centers-are-dominating-pennsylvanias-gubernatorial-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/269929\/","title":{"rendered":"Center of attention: Data centers are dominating Pennsylvania\u2019s gubernatorial race"},"content":{"rendered":"

Across the country, Americans\u2019 opinions on data centers are growing increasingly negative, with a recent Heatmap News poll<\/a> showing 75% of Americans would oppose a data center being built in their communities \u2013 and 61% saying they would \u201cstrongly oppose\u201d data center proposals. That sentiment holds in Pennsylvania, with data centers quickly becoming a dominant issue in the state\u2019s race for governor between incumbent Gov. Josh Shapiro and his GOP challenger, state Treasurer Stacy Garrity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Shapiro, a Democrat who is seeking reelection in this year\u2019s race, has taken a harder stance on data centers as public opposition to them grows: He recently released a set of \u201cresponsible development\u201d<\/a> standards<\/a> that data center developments must meet to unlock state tax benefits, and rolled out a website for Pennsylvanians to submit feedback on local data center proposals.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Garrity has seized on the issue, knocking Shapiro over his past support<\/a> for data center projects in Pennsylvania and promising to support a pause on data center development if elected. Shapiro\u2019s campaign, meanwhile, has hit Garrity over past comments touting the state\u2019s need to \u201cderegulate\u201d to promote more data center development.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The war of words between the two candidates demonstrates just how divisive data centers have become as the state nears the November gubernatorial contest.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Shapiro signs executive order on data centers<\/p>\n

Shapiro signed an executive order<\/a> Tuesday aiming to protect Pennsylvania consumers from the impacts of data centers \u2013 a move that comes after months of increasingly negative public and political sentiment against data centers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The executive order, Shapiro said, directs developers to comply with previously proposed standards that were unable to get through the Republican-led state Senate.\u00a0<\/p>\n

His Governor\u2019s Responsible Infrastructure Development, or GRID, standards \u2013 proposed earlier this year \u2013 would require prospective data center developers to provide a notice of intent to comply with energy safeguards and require a local community\u2019s approval before any project could begin construction. The executive order also immediately removes all data center projects from the state\u2019s permit fast track program.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout proper controls, the proliferation of data centers could harm Pennsylvanians\u2019 right to clean air and pure water because of their emissions, water use, and energy demand,\u201d the executive order reads. \u201c(T)his Administration will always fight to protect Pennsylvanians\u2019constitutional rights and prevent excessive energy cost increases from being passed on to residents of the Commonwealth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shapiro acknowledged his past support for data center projects, including a $20 million investment by Amazon to build two data center campuses in the state. \u201cLast summer, I announced two projects that will bring thousands of new jobs and $20 billion in new investment to Pennsylvania in Salem Township, Luzerne County, and Falls Township, Bucks County. Since then, we\u2019ve seen an unacceptable number of speculative proposals for data centers swamp our Commonwealth \u2013 many of them led by developers who have no regard for local communities,\u201d he said upon signing his latest executive order.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf these companies want to do business here, they need to comply with the strictest guardrails in the nation on data center development, starting today. Otherwise, they\u2019ll have to go somewhere else,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

On Friday, the governor also encouraged Pennsylvanians to submit their concerns on local data center projects through the pa.gov\/YourVoiceOnDataCenters<\/a> website.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A data (center)-driven campaign<\/p>\n

Shapiro\u2019s evolution<\/a> on what has become an energy and environmental flashpoint nationally is now a point of attack for his opponent.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Garrity\u2019s campaign has recently honed in<\/a> on Shapiro\u2019s original embrace of artificial intelligence and data center projects. In a statement, Garrity\u2019s campaign likened Shapiro\u2019s executive order to \u201cgaslighting,\u201d saying Shapiro \u201cwas the biggest data center cheerleader in the nation\u201d and had received campaign donations from the tech industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow that public opinion has turned against him and his donors, Josh Shapiro is playing CYA, and Pennsylvania voters aren\u2019t buying it,\u201d Garrity\u2019s team said in the statement on Aug. 18. \u201cJosh Shapiro lit the fuse on the chaos we are seeing in community-after-community across the commonwealth because he was more concerned with his political ambitions than fighting for Pennsylvania communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her latest campaign ads stress the same notes. Garrity\u2019s campaign has run attack ads<\/a> in Shapiro\u2019s own Montgomery County, claiming his \u201cdata center scandal keeps growing.\u201d The ad connects Shapiro\u2019s campaign to donations from data center developers, saying \u201cShapiro sold us out.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

During his remarks signing the executive order, Shapiro said the feedback he\u2019s \u201cgotten from people in their communities has shaped\u201d his perspective on the issue. He added that the move will \u201cput local leaders back in charge of their communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Garrity\u2019s views on data centers have also seemingly evolved over the course of the last year. In a 2025 interview on KDKA\u2019s Big K Morning Show, Garrity said that \u201cwe need to deregulate\u201d when discussing data center development.<\/p>\n

She also previously stated that \u201cvery rural\u201d areas of Pennsylvania could be \u201cperfect places to put data centers.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

In a call with reporters on Friday, Garrity called on Shapiro to return more than $5 million in political contributions from \u201cdata center interests.\u201d The sum includes contributions from individuals with ties to Big Tech, though not all of them are data center developers. That includes $3 million from Jennifer Duda, the wife of Arista Networks President Kenneth Duda, whose company manufactures hardware and networking software for data centers. Garrity also urged Shapiro to return $2 million from Reid Hoffman, the co-founder and former CEO of LinkedIn who currently serves as a Microsoft board member, as well as $500,000 from John Fish of Suffolk Construction and a $100,000 contribution from NorthPoint Development.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Josh Shapiro really believes these developers are greedy, if Josh Shapiro really believes they’re predatory \u2026 then why is he pocketing their money?\u201d Garrity said Friday.<\/p>\n

Manuel Bonder, a spokesperson for Shapiro\u2019s reelection campaign, highlighted Garrity\u2019s past comments in support of data center regulation.<\/p>\n

“Stacy Garrity\u2019s long record of supporting completely unregulated data center development makes it clear that she just can\u2019t be trusted,\u201d Bonder said Friday in a statement. \u201cGarrity\u2019s true position is clear: she wants aggressive deregulation and hundreds more data centers built all across Pennsylvania communities \u2013 and we\u2019re going to hold her accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n

The back-and-forth will likely only ramp up as the gubernatorial race enters the home stretch this fall.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A July 2026 Quinnipiac University poll<\/a> of the Pennsylvania governor\u2019s race found Shapiro leading Garrity 53% to 40%, with 5% of registered voters undecided. In the same poll, 74% of Pennsylvania voters said they would oppose the construction of a data center in their community, while 16% said they would support a data center proposal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, a poll<\/a> released in early August by National Public Affairs Polling, a GOP polling firm, had Shapiro pulling in support from 50% of likely voters and Garrity notching 43%. Of those surveyed, 7% said they were undecided on the race.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Across the country, Americans\u2019 opinions on data centers are growing increasingly negative, with a recent Heatmap News poll…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":269930,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1609,33,2156,28,30,29,8060,503],"class_list":["post-269929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-josh-shapiro","tag-news-politics","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-stacy-garrity","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269929","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=269929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269929\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/269930"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=269929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=269929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=269929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}