So in late March, at a GOP precinct meeting in Falls County, Schroeder suggested they propose a data center ban at the upcoming state Republican convention, which sets the party\u2019s priorities.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey started screaming and yelling, and you would have thought I started World War III,\u201d Schroeder said. \u201cThey said, \u2018We won\u2019t accept that, Rena. You\u2019re gonna have to revise it to regulations.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
She threw her hands up in the air and said, \u201cThe only thing that I\u2019m gonna revise, right here, right now, is my commitment to the Republican Party. Goodbye.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, Schroeder identifies as an independent, and she exemplifies the growing divide among Texas Republicans over data centers.<\/p>\n
![\"20260504-Data-Centers-Schroeder-LS-08.png\"](\"https:\/\/erepublic.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/66e8e2d\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/2560x1707+0+0\/resize\/840x560!\/quality\/90\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Ferepublic-brightspot.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fec%2F89%2Fc9260d7e438a8d138d740448b5fe%2F20260504-data-centers-schroeder-ls-08.png\")
<\/p>\n
The site for OpenAI\u2019s Stargate Milam County data center is set to be completed later this year. <\/p>\n
(Leila Saidane\/The Texas Tribune)<\/p>\n
As the massive, digital information-processing facilities proliferate, Republicans are caught between a zealous president and governor bent on Texas becoming the next global data center hub, and outraged constituents, like Schroeder, in red and rural districts where a majority of them are being proposed.<\/p>\n
According to a Texas Tribune analysis, at least 82 data centers, or nearly 60% of those that are either planned or under construction, are in state House districts that voted for President Donald Trump and elected a Republican state representative in 2024. Meanwhile, a March Quinnipiac poll<\/a> found that 65% of Americans oppose the building of an AI data center in their community.<\/p>\n Republican state lawmakers \u2014 caught in the middle \u2014 have offered mixed opinions about data center development amid calls from city and county leaders to give them more freedom to regulate the facilities.<\/p>\n Altogether, the thorny politics could hurt Republicans ahead of this year\u2019s midterm elections \u2014 especially in a cycle when they hold the White House, a dynamic that typically favors the opposing party.<\/p>\n In Washington, Trump has removed federal red tape<\/a> to spur faster data center expansion, framing it as key to protecting the country from cyber attacks and ensuring economic dominance over foreign adversaries like China. Congressional proposals to require greater transparency from operators and protect ratepayers have stalled and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is moving to block states from regulating artificial intelligence nationwide.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Abbott has touted Texas as the \u201cepicenter\u201d of artificial intelligence development, including in November when he announced<\/a>, alongside Google CEO Sundar Pichai, the company\u2019s $40 billion investment in Texas in the form of three new data centers in West Texas and the Panhandle.<\/p>\n Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Google CEO Sundar Pichai at a Google data center in Midlothian on Nov. 14, 2025. <\/p>\n (Courtesy Governor’s office)<\/p>\n In a statement, Abbott\u2019s spokesperson Andrew Mahaleris said the governor is listening to the concerns from the ground.<\/p>\n \u201cThese investments cannot come before the needs and concerns of Texans. Governor Abbott will work with the legislature to contain any costs and address the concerns of Texans,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The issue is set to be a major focus when lawmakers return to Austin in January, with both House Speaker Dustin Burrows and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who leads the Texas Senate, having highlighted it multiple times within their priority lists.<\/p>\n Both directed their chambers to balance the economic development benefits of the facilities with their potential impact on Texas communities and their water and power infrastructure. Patrick also asked senators to look into the state\u2019s sales tax exemption for the projects, which the Tribune reported earlier this month<\/a> will cost the state $3.2 billion in revenue over the next two years.<\/p>\n The data center industry has recently mobilized, unveiling a campaign to promote the benefits of the facilities, and ramping up its political donations during Texas\u2019 GOP primaries. It\u2019s also expanding its lobbying shops to win over Republicans priding themselves on being anti-regulation and pro-business as they pitch billions in investment and thousands of jobs.<\/p>\n AI-aligned super PACs spent about $4.2 million in Texas this primary cycle, with all but $150,000 going to Republicans, according to the Tech Oversight Project, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that supports regulations on data centers.<\/p>\n Companies that own, operate or rent from data centers collectively added at least 15 more lobbyists between the 2023 and 2025 sessions, according to a Tribune analysis, and have already started gearing back up for next year\u2019s session.<\/p>\n James Dickey, the former Texas GOP chairman who is now a political consultant for data centers, said lawmakers may have reasonable questions but ultimately he expects Republicans will line up to support the industry.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the vast majority of our legislators understand and agree with the White House that artificial intelligence is both an economic and national security concern, and that the best place to grow for the future is in Texas,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n A Delicate Balance \u201cWhen folks look at me and say, \u2018We don\u2019t want this,\u2019 I point them to our state reps and say, \u2018Go talk to your state rep. Go talk to your senator,\u2019 because they don\u2019t trust us to make those decisions,\u201d Sebesta said in an interview, underscoring his desire for the Legislature to give counties that authority.<\/p>\n He added: \u201cCounty government is an extension of state government, but we\u2019re the redheaded stepchild. We\u2019re the ones that deliver the services, but they treat county government like shit.\u201d<\/p>\n State Rep. Cody Vasut, R-Angleton, speaks during a hearing in Houston on July 26, 2025. <\/p>\n (Danielle Villasana\/The Texas Tribune)<\/p>\n State Rep. Cody Vasut, R-Angleton, who showed up to the Brazoria County meeting, said he filed legislation last session to give counties regulation authority<\/a> over large developments like data centers that have the potential to impact health, safety or noise levels, though it did not make it to the House floor. He committed to bringing similar legislation in 2027.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you develop in the county, it\u2019s been viewed kind of as the Wild West, but I think as time has gone on, more and more projects are being developed near residences in the county, and that\u2019s something we need to look at changing,\u201d Vasut said at the meeting.<\/p>\n Not all Republicans are on board with the idea of empowering local governments with more oversight.<\/p>\n \u201cThese should be statewide, top-down guidelines,\u201d state Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, said in an interview. \u201cYou can\u2019t have 254 different counties and 1,000 cities all coming up with different answers. Stuff would never get built.\u201d<\/p>\n The debate is beginning to reveal geographic fault lines among Republican legislators, with rural lawmakers like Vasut tending to raise more concerns about data centers while those from urban areas like Bettencourt have generally been more supportive \u2014 or at least quieter.<\/p>\n State Sen. Angela Paxton, R-McKinney speaks with state Sen. Paul Bettencourt R-Houston, during a committee hearing in Austin on Aug. 6, 2025. <\/p>\n (Ronaldo Bola\u00f1os\/The Texas Tribune)<\/p>\n At a House committee hearing on the issue in March, for example, outgoing state Rep. John Smithee of Amarillo worried aloud about the state\u2019s long-term water supply, while state Rep. Will Metcalf of Conroe openly pitched an executive on bringing a data center to his district.<\/p>\n Metcalf had just asked about the benefit of data centers to the local community, and Dan Diorio, a vice president of the Data Center Coalition, an industry membership association, pointed to new jobs and the significant property tax revenue they bring that goes back into schools, infrastructure and public works. In Virginia, the largest data center market in the world, Diorio said, for every dollar a center spends in services, it gives back $26 in revenue.<\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s visit in the future,\u201d a smiling Metcalf said to Diorio. \u201cBecause Conroe Technology Park has a great location that this might fit well in.\u201d<\/p>\n ‘Immediate Pause’ \u201cThe AI revolution is advancing at a pace that exceeds the industrial and technological revolutions that came before it, and its impact on humanity will likely be even greater,\u201d she wrote in a letter she also posted to social media. \u201cBecause of this, it is imperative that we get the foundational policies right from the beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n Three days after posting the letter, Kerwin was part of a group of nearly 100 Texas Republican<\/a> legislators invited to the White House to meet with President Trump and his cabinet. There, Trump officials discussed a number of policy issues, including the administration\u2019s desire to expand data center development in Texas.<\/p>\n Bettencourt was in the cohort and found the administration\u2019s arguments persuasive. He said he believes opponents are being short-sighted because they fear change.<\/p>\n \u201cThe future of having growth is what\u2019s key to keeping the Texas miracle alive, which is more jobs, rising wages, a good place to raise and educate children,\u201d he said. \u201cAll the opportunities that the Texas economy brings everyone is a much better solution than no growth.\u201d<\/p>\n State Rep. Wes Virdell, R-Brady, wrote on Facebook that he and other members warned the Trump officials that the state lacked the resources for a data center influx, and he also described his constituents\u2019 concern that new high-voltage transmission lines will \u201cdestroy the Hill Country.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI left with the impression that our concerns fell on deaf ears,\u201d wrote Virdell, in a rare break for the deeply conservative MAGA Republican<\/a>. \u201cIt looks like it is up to us (the people) to fight against data center expansion in Texas.\u201d<\/p>\n State Rep. Wes Virdell, R-Brady, (r) at the Capitol in Austin on Dec. 7, 2024. <\/p>\n (Bob Daemmrich\/The Texas Tribune)<\/p>\n In an April interview about her letter, Kerwin said it was \u201cmisunderstood initially\u201d as her calling for restrictions on the industry and she stressed that she is not against data centers or artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n \u201cAll I\u2019m asking the governor to do is just, let\u2019s just pause \u2013 not stop. I don\u2019t want to halt,\u201d she said. \u201cWe all know we have to embrace this, or we\u2019re going to be left behind, and we may already be behind with China, who knows? \u2013 but we have to do it right, and we have to protect our water, our aquifers, not for decades but for generations.\u201d<\/p>\n The North Central Texas representative stopped short of saying she supports \u201cregulation,\u201d though she raised the possibility of the Legislature considering a \u201cguideline\u201d that would limit developments to closed-loop cooling systems, which tend to use less water.<\/p>\n \u201cThe word \u2018regulation\u2019 scares me, as a grassroots conservative,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t want to use the [word] regulation right now until the study, if we can get one, determines that might be needed.\u201d<\/p>\n A PR Campaign in its Infancy An Abbott staffer gave them a stern warning that they needed to step up their public messaging or risk losing political support, according to three people with knowledge of the conversation not authorized to speak publicly.<\/p>\n San Marcos City Hall reaches capacity before a City Council meeting for a proposed AI data center on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. Hundreds gathered inside and outside, some in opposition and others in support of the rezoning. The proposal failed 5-2 after hours of testimony. <\/p>\n (Leila Saidane, The Texas Tribune)<\/p>\n \u201cThere is bad press after bad press after bad press,\u201d one of the sources paraphrased the governor\u2019s aide as saying. \u201cElected officials are getting beat up for this, and y\u2019all are doing absolutely nothing. I mean, it was almost a \u2018What are y\u2019all thinking?’\u201d<\/p>\n Within weeks, a new nonprofit dedicated to educating Texans about the data center industry rolled out an outreach campaign touting the benefits of the facilities. Its first advertisement video, entitled \u201cBuilt for Texas<\/a>,\u201d highlighted that the centers house critical data like medical information and business payrolls, create \u201chigh-paying jobs\u201d and pay \u201cbillions\u201d in taxes, all while promising that the centers will consume \u201cminimal water\u201d thanks to new technology.<\/p>\n The nonprofit, Texas Connects, mirrors a similar effort in Virginia, whose parallel group, Virginia Connects, both of which were put together by the Data Center Coalition.<\/p>\n The Virginia campaign cost at least $700,000 in the last fiscal year, according to Fast Company<\/a>. Statewide political campaigns in Texas, home to several major media markets and more than three times as many residents as Virginia, have to raise significantly more money to have a similar reach here.<\/p>\n The coalition did not respond to questions about where in Texas they plan to air the videos or how much they expect to spend.<\/p>\n Kate Goodrich, an attorney at K&L Gates and lobbyist for data centers, said the industry \u201chas taken a bit to get everyone moving in the same direction\u201d on its public messaging, but that\u2019s been changing in recent months.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is currently an industrywide endeavor to do a better job at clearing up any misconceptions,\u201d Goodrich said. \u201cAny new emerging technology is scary. Even when airplanes were created, people were like, \u2018What is this? This is going to change everything.\u2019 So there\u2019s just a need for education.\u201d<\/p>\n With the amount of public outcry over the subject, Goodrich and her colleague Austin McCarty, said it seems inevitable that lawmakers pass some kind of regulation in the upcoming session.<\/p>\n \u201cThe issue at hand is to make sure that an overly burdensome regulatory environment doesn\u2019t kill an opportunity,\u201d McCarty said. \u201cI mean, this is the new gold rush. Another economic opportunity like this will not come along in our lifetime or maybe even our children\u2019s lifetime.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the tech industry is already lavishing donations across the capitol.<\/p>\n Abbott has received over $2 million<\/a> from people and companies linked to the tech and AI industries since last year. Meta plans to give $65 million this midterm cycle<\/a> to state politicians who support the AI industry, both in Republican- and Democrat-led states, through new super PACs, according to national reporting.<\/p>\n The one aimed at Republicans, Forge the Future, spent over $1 million in Texas this year boosting Republican state-level candidates during this year\u2019s primary, including nearly $174,000 supporting the campaign of state Rep. David Cook, who easily defeated Schroeder this year when she ran in the GOP primary for an open Senate seat.<\/p>\n Schroeder says she won\u2019t support Cook because she doesn\u2019t believe he\u2019ll stand up to data centers.<\/p>\n Cook, in a Feb. 26 statement, said he rejected Meta\u2019s support and \u201ctheir efforts to build in an area where the citizens have spoken out in strong opposition.\u201d The Mansfield Republican\u2019s attorney sent the company a cease and desist letter that same day, demanding it stop voter outreach on behalf of Cook because he had never spoken to anyone at the Meta super PAC before and \u201cdoes not want any help.\u201d<\/p>\n That same month, Cook said he agrees with Trump that data centers are \u201ccritical to national security.\u201d Yet he also voiced support for setting guardrails on the industry and letting counties pass moratoriums on construction of the facilities. He has committed to filing legislation that gives counties \u201creasonable authority\u201d to regulate data center development and protects against water depletion and power rate increases.<\/p>\n Rena Schroeder with her horse Blaze on her ranch in Lott on May 4, 2026. <\/p>\n (Leila Saidane\/The Texas Tribune)<\/p>\n Activists like Schroeder aren\u2019t letting up. She plans to continue her involvement in a grassroots, social media-originated group called the Texas Coalition Against Datacenters and has her sights set on running for office again.<\/p>\n \u201cI have to fight for Texas land because if I don\u2019t, where\u2019s my daughter gonna go?\u201d Schroeder said. \u201cThis is her inheritance right here. And I\u2019m speaking for every rural Texan, where\u2019s our grandchildren and our children\u2019s inheritance gonna go?\u201d<\/p>\n This story first appeared in the Texas Tribune and supported by the\u00a0Pulitzer Center<\/a>. Read the original here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Republican Party has felt like home to Rena Schroeder since her teenage years when she joined a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":321351,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-321350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=321350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321350\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/321351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=321350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=321350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=321350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Greg-Abbott-and-Sundar-Pichai-GO.png\"](\"https:\/\/erepublic.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/b900b4c\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/2560x1707+0+0\/resize\/840x560!\/quality\/90\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Ferepublic-brightspot.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2F82%2F7a%2F9b4c338c421c9f19521dce100f34%2Fgreg-abbott-and-sundar-pichai-go.png\")
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About 50 miles southwest of Galveston in coastal Brazoria County, which features a mix of rural and urban areas, the Republican county executive Matt Sebesta was blunt with his constituents at a commissioners court meeting on March 10. The court was about to vote down a tax abatement for a proposed, 620-megawatt data center and accompanying natural gas plant, but he wanted a roomful of angry residents to know that beyond that, counties have virtually no tools to stop the development.<\/p>\n![\"072620Houston20Redistrict20Hearing20DV2008-1-scaled.png\"](\"https:\/\/erepublic.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/6b3a0c7\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/2560x1707+0+0\/resize\/840x560!\/quality\/90\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Ferepublic-brightspot.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2F4b%2Fdd%2F4640cbe64c508ad4a7095131388f%2F072620houston20redistrict20hearing20dv2008-1-scaled.png\")
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In March, state Rep. Helen Kerwin, a Republican who represents rural Glen Rose, penned a letter to Abbott calling for an \u201cIMMEDIATE PAUSE\u201d on new large-scale data center developments to allow for impact studies, particularly on water availability and grid capacity. Somervell County, which falls entirely in her district, has a tax abatement deal<\/a> with Amazon for a 600-megawatt data center. Kerwin said she knows of at least five other potential applications in her district.<\/p>\n![\"120720Speaker20GOP20Caucus20BD20TT2004-1-scaled.png\"](\"https:\/\/erepublic.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/9564874\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/2560x1707+0+0\/resize\/840x560!\/quality\/90\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Ferepublic-brightspot.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Ffd%2Fb8%2Fa71e960f42ac81e35ae22f7bfc0a%2F120720speaker20gop20caucus20bd20tt2004-1-scaled.png\")
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Sensing that anti-data center sentiment was worsening in Texas, the governor\u2019s office called meetings with top data center representatives. The San Marcos city council had recently denied rezoning for a $1.5 billion data center over concerns about water and other local boards were entertaining anti-data center proposals.<\/p>\n![\"20260217-San-Marcos-Data-City-Hall-LS-12.png\"](\"https:\/\/erepublic.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/2d44c9c\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/2560x1707+0+0\/resize\/840x560!\/quality\/90\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Ferepublic-brightspot.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2F34%2Fc9%2Fc11bd58b4889a27d3b7fa9373341%2F20260217-san-marcos-data-city-hall-ls-12.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"20260504-Data-Centers-Schroeder-LS-12.png\"](\"https:\/\/erepublic.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/e83fdd4\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/2560x1707+0+0\/resize\/840x560!\/quality\/90\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Ferepublic-brightspot.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2F1e%2F53%2F6c7d0a5d407695bae41074a9a286%2F20260504-data-centers-schroeder-ls-12.png\")
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