{"slug": "were-not-for-sale-pennsylvania-democrat-spotlights-data-center-fury-in-campaign", "title": "‘We’re not for sale’: Pennsylvania Democrat spotlights data-center fury in campaign ads", "summary": "Democrat Paige Cognetti, mayor of Scranton, is airing a new TV ad in her challenge to freshman Republican Rep. Rob Bresnahan that attacks artificial intelligence data centers, saying 'we're not for sale' in a swing Pennsylvania congressional district where communities are fighting data center projects. The ad criticizes developer secrecy, tax breaks, and rising electric bills, and calls for Big Tech to 'pay their own way' and hire local union labor. The race is considered one of the Democratic Party's best opportunities to pick up a seat in the November election.", "body_md": "Democrat [Paige Cognetti](https://apnews.com/article/congress-pennsylvania-house-cognetti-brooks-bresnahan-mackenzie-1e4ec001ee97b229f87e6c3d8635705d) is taking a shot at [artificial intelligence data centers](https://apnews.com/article/ai-data-centers-environment-climate-footprint-a792f184a9f2833b5388dbae8b41ca95) in her challenge to freshman Republican Rep. Rob Bresnahan, saying “we’re not for sale” in a new TV ad in a swing Pennsylvania congressional district where communities are fighting data center projects.\n\nThe race between Cognetti, the mayor of Scranton, and Bresnahan is considered one of the Democratic Party’s best opportunities to pick up a seat in the November election in its bid to take control of the U.S. House and block President Donald Trump’s agenda.\n\nCognetti is airing the ad in a district that’s been buffeted by AI data center projects and as [the opposition to data centers](https://apnews.com/article/data-centers-artificial-intelligence-nimby-tech-21fa7b957664d5dca6788e35ab43b88e) that has upended races for local offices across the country is spreading to [top-of-the-ticket contests](https://apnews.com/article/data-centers-artificial-intelligence-nimby-tech-21fa7b957664d5dca6788e35ab43b88e).\n\nSpeaking to the camera, Cognetti invokes the region’s industrial heritage as a coal and shale gas powerhouse, saying, “Big companies have come before, taken what they wanted and left us with their mess to clean up. Now it’s data centers.”\n\nShe then criticizes the secrecy that developers often use to veil details of projects from the public, the tax breaks developers often get from states and [the rising electric bills](https://apnews.com/article/electricity-prices-data-centers-artificial-intelligence-fbf213a915fb574a4f3e5baaa7041c3a) that have hit the mid-Atlantic region to satisfy the growing energy demand of [data centers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Yh9OddmgS0), which house rows of computers for storing, processing and transmitting data.\n\n“Big Tech needs to pay their own way. Not hide behind NDAs. No tax breaks. Don’t raise our electric bills, don’t poison our water. And hire local, union labor,” Cognetti says.\n\nIf not, “then get out,” she says. “This is our home. We are not for sale.”\n\nTrump has made data centers [a top priority](https://apnews.com/article/power-electricity-ai-plants-data-centers-grid-506e3d206871111f15c3c62fc5368be5) to help the U.S. compete against China for [AI superiority](https://apnews.com/article/trump-artificial-intelligence-energy-data-centers-f216660b80f992ae303b348dac0b2f87).\n\nHowever, communities across the U.S. have fought many of the projects, including in northeastern Pennsylvania, where complexes of data centers and new high-voltage transmission lines are planned. Fights between communities and developers have landed in court.\n\nThe 30-second ad will run on broadcast TV channels, cable and digital platforms, Cognetti’s campaign said. It is costing about $200,000 for the initial run of two weeks.\n\nBresnahan has introduced legislation called the Local Control Protection Act, which he says would put limits on a corporation’s right to sue over local zoning decisions denying an application to build a data center.\n\n“We should never let billion-dollar corporations supersede the voices of those who live in the community,” Bresnahan said in a statement accompanying the bill’s introduction in June.\n\nThe bill has yet to move out of committee or gain a cosponsor.\n\nRepublicans have made protecting Bresnahan a high priority. Both Trump and Vice President JD Vance visited the district last year.\n\n**The Fortune 500 Innovation Forum** will convene Fortune 500 executives, U.S. policy officials, top founders, and thought leaders to help define what’s next for the American economy,\n\n**Nov. 16-17 in Detroit.**", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/were-not-for-sale-pennsylvania-democrat-spotlights-data-center-fury-in-campaign", "canonical_source": "https://fortune.com/2026/07/28/cognetti-bresnahan-pennsylvania-data-centers-ad/", "published_at": "2026-07-28 11:31:09+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-07-28 11:40:58.501525+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-policy", "ai-infrastructure"], "entities": ["Paige Cognetti", "Rob Bresnahan", "Scranton", "U.S. House", "Donald Trump", "JD Vance", "Fortune 500 Innovation Forum"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/were-not-for-sale-pennsylvania-democrat-spotlights-data-center-fury-in-campaign", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/were-not-for-sale-pennsylvania-democrat-spotlights-data-center-fury-in-campaign.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/were-not-for-sale-pennsylvania-democrat-spotlights-data-center-fury-in-campaign.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/were-not-for-sale-pennsylvania-democrat-spotlights-data-center-fury-in-campaign.jsonld"}}