{"slug": "texas-republicans-are-turning-on-greg-abbott-over-billionaires-ai-land-grab", "title": "Texas Republicans are turning on Greg Abbott over billionaires’ AI land grab", "summary": "Texas Republicans are turning on Gov. Greg Abbott over the rapid expansion of AI data centers, which are fueling anger across rural Texas over soaring electricity bills, shrinking water supplies, and loss of farmland. Democratic gubernatorial nominee Gina Hinojosa has seized on the issue, while Abbott has shifted his tone by directing regulators to prevent data centers from driving up electric bills and pledging legislation to strip tax incentives and limit construction in rural areas.", "body_md": "# Texas Republicans are turning on Greg Abbott over billionaires’ AI land grab\n\nThe backlash to energy-guzzling server warehouses that power artificial intelligence is shaping statewide campaigns from Arizona to New York\n\n- Bookmark\n- CommentsGo to comments\n\nWhat was once a little-known local issue has exploded into one of the biggest political fights of the year in Texas, as massive AI data centers ignite a rural backlash that could reshape November's governor's race.\n\nWhen Democratic gubernatorial nominee [Gina Hinojosa](/news/world/americas/us-politics/james-talarico-breakfast-order-texas-debate-b2977500.html) launched her campaign last year, data centers barely registered with voters. Now, the sprawling server farms powering artificial intelligence are fueling anger across rural Texas, where residents fear soaring electricity bills, shrinking water supplies and the loss of farmland and ranchland.\n\nThe issue is creating an unusual political headache for [Republican Gov. Greg Abbott,](/news/world/americas/texas-hill-country-flooding-warning-systems-camp-mystic-b3017415.html) whose support for Texas becoming an AI powerhouse has put him at odds with many rural conservatives who have long backed him.\n\n\"There is this little issue that I recently started hearing about,\" Hinojosa joked to about 160 Democratic supporters at a campaign stop in Amarillo. \"It's this issue of data centers.\"\n\nThe crowd immediately booed.\n\n\"They are owned by the richest men in the world,\" Hinojosa said. \"We're all footing the bill. There are no rules. It is the wild west of data centers.\"\n\nThe growing revolt against AI infrastructure is no longer confined to local zoning meetings. It is spilling into statewide campaigns from Texas to Ohio, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania as voters push back against giant server warehouses that consume enormous amounts of electricity and water.\n\nCritics say they are being kept in the dark about projects that could transform quiet farming communities into industrial hubs. Many fear higher utility bills, dried-up wells, increased traffic, noise, pollution and the loss of open countryside.\n\nTexas has become one of the biggest battlegrounds.\n\nCommercial real estate firm JLL projects the state will surpass Northern Virginia as the world's largest data center market by 2030. Companies are racing to build enormous facilities across West Texas and the Panhandle, including a project near Amarillo billed as the world's largest data center.\n\nGoogle alone is building four data centers in northwest Texas, while President Donald Trump has made expanding AI infrastructure a national priority as the U.S. competes with China.\n\nSupporters say the projects will boost innovation, strengthen cybersecurity and create jobs.\n\nBut opponents say developers have been secretive about what they plan to build and the environmental impact those facilities could have on rural communities.\n\nThe backlash is cutting across party lines.\n\nTexas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, a Republican, has criticized the rapid expansion, while ranchers and local Republican officials warn that water-hungry data centers could worsen drought conditions in a state already struggling with water shortages.\n\n\"Oh, I guarantee you, it's on everybody's mind,\" said Giles Dalby, a Republican county commissioner and cattle rancher whose family has worked the same land for 125 years.\n\nDalby worries ranchers could find themselves competing with data centers for increasingly scarce water supplies.\n\nThe pressure has forced Abbott to shift his tone.\n\nAfter years of aggressively courting AI investment, Abbott recently directed regulators to prevent data centers from driving up Texans' electric bills and pledged legislation that would strip away lucrative tax incentives and stop data centers from being built in what he called \"rural Texas neighborhoods.\"\n\nHinojosa dismissed Abbott's comments as too little, too late.\n\n\"Now we have this gold rush of data centers in our communities,\" she said. \"People want a say, and I think that's fair.\"\n\nShe said she would block permits for projects that were not in Texans' best interests or moved forward without meaningful local input.\n\nWhether the issue is enough to fracture Abbott's rural base remains unclear. But even longtime Republicans acknowledge the growing frustration.\n\n\"This is the most cross-partisan issue I've ever seen in my life,\" said Democratic agriculture commissioner candidate Clayton Tucker.\n\nRepublican activist Suzanne Bellsnyder said many conservatives are angry with Abbott, though whether that translates into votes remains to be seen.\n\n\"There are people who'll still vote Republican all the way down,\" said Hallie Bertrand, a Republican leading a grassroots anti-data center campaign in Lubbock. \"But I think it's a step toward something we haven't seen in Texas in a long time—people on the right moving closer to the middle.\"\n\n## Join our commenting forum\n\nJoin thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies\n\n[Comments](#comments-area)", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/texas-republicans-are-turning-on-greg-abbott-over-billionaires-ai-land-grab", "canonical_source": "https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/texas-ai-data-centers-rural-backlash-hinojosa-abbott-b3020184.html", "published_at": "2026-07-23 11:08:26+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-07-23 11:34:47.729806+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-infrastructure", "ai-policy"], "entities": ["Greg Abbott", "Gina Hinojosa", "Texas", "Sid Miller", "Giles Dalby", "Google", "JLL"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/texas-republicans-are-turning-on-greg-abbott-over-billionaires-ai-land-grab", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/texas-republicans-are-turning-on-greg-abbott-over-billionaires-ai-land-grab.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/texas-republicans-are-turning-on-greg-abbott-over-billionaires-ai-land-grab.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/texas-republicans-are-turning-on-greg-abbott-over-billionaires-ai-land-grab.jsonld"}}