AI data centers become flashpoint in Florida governor race

As data centers emerge as a key campaign issue in Florida’s race for governor, the state’s Democrats are pushing back. They held a news conference about two miles from “Iron Mountain,” an AI-ready data center nearing completion in Miami-Dade County’s Westview neighborhood, leaning into Republican candidate Byron Donalds’ past remarks on data centers possibly coming online in Florida. “We have more people moving here in finance and tech, so as a derivative of that you, you are going to have data centers, tech firms, etc. We need to embrace that, not run away from that,” Donalds said while speaking with the Economic Club of Miami in May 2025. “We are wide open, we have actual land in our state that is still pristine, available to use, we can build out that stuff and still maintain the beauty of our state.”Democrats pushed back against his comments. “Donalds is on the record saying, ‘We need to embrace data centers’ and there is ‘pristine land’ in our state available for them, and on the campaign trail has talked about a ‘pathway’ to building these data centers,” Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried. “The threat of hyper scale AI data centers is looming over all of Florida. To find the truth, you need to follow the money.”Fried cited Donalds’ support from some AI industry titans, including Leading the Future, a super-PAC which says it wants to, “support candidates aligned with the pro-AI agenda.” “Since launching his campaign, data center developers and AI groups have spent more than $5 million bankrolling Byron Donalds’ bid for governor,” said Fried. Donalds’ Democratic challenger, David Jolly, is fresh off a visit to northern Virginia’s so-called “data center alley.”“What you are hearing, and the reason I have to raise my voice, is the noise pollution that occurs from these data centers,” Jolly said. “You have the devaluation of real estate as well.”Jolly is supporting a one-year moratorium on building data centers until we can better understand the impact on community, the campaign said, from public health and quality of life to the reality of promised jobs and demands on local energy and water resources.“There is a reason Florida’s voters don’t want them, this used to be green space,” he said. Earlier this month, Donalds told Fox Business he does have regulation in mind.“To the people who might want to build them, if you don’t protect our ratepayers and you don’t protect our water, you are not building a data centers and that is my position,” he said. “And local governments are going to be the ones that will make these decisions, not Tallahassee.”It would appear Donalds’ recent comments are pivoting to parrot new legislation the Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law in May, when he expressed concern about hyper-scale data centers.Over the summer, DeSantis signed a bill into law which aims to preserve local zoning authority and ensure costs are not passed to consumers.Fried said the one thing Floridians can agree on irrespective of party is the environment, since it is the engine behind all of the state’s industries, from trade and tourism to agriculture and real estate, but worries the latest legislation could be weakened if Donalds’ prevails.This as more than a dozen Florida counties hit the brakes on large data center development, pausing permits so they have time to write land use rules, with some enacting permanent bans.Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava “looks forward to receiving an ordinance that puts in place a moratorium consistent with state law, while protecting our neighborhoods and our environment,” her office said in a statement to Local 10 News.Donalds’ campaign told Local 10 News he plans to build on SB 484 with, “closed-loop water system requirements” that recycle water on site and supports “keeping facilities away from neighborhoods.” His campaign also said he is proposing a federal bill to stop data center developers from competing with residents for water supply and creating a strain on the power grid.

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