SerpApi.Org
TALLAHASSEE, Florida — David Jolly, the Democratic frontrunner in the Florida governor’s race, on Tuesday reiterated his push to pause data center construction statewide as the facilities’ impacts become an increasingly hot-button political issue nationwide.
In a video posted to X, Jolly said he had proposed a moratorium on data centers and slammed Rep. Byron Donalds, the Trump-endorsed GOP frontrunner, for his stance on regulating the industry. The comments also echo similar statements Jolly made in Lakeland last week, when he advocated for a pause and argued Florida lacked the necessary safeguards to protect workers and the environment from data centers.
“I’m calling for a moratorium on data centers until Florida has a responsible plan to protect our water, power grid, and communities,” the former member of Congress wrote in the Tuesday post. “Byron Donalds wants to hand pristine Florida land over to the industry funding his campaign. Our state is not for sale.”
In response to Jolly's calls for a moratorium, Donalds campaign spokesperson Gates McGavick said in a statement that, "Byron Donalds has made it clear he supports protecting Florida ratepayers and communities."
"No ratepayer and environmental protections, no data centers. Period," he said.
Jolly’s statements come as data centers gain traction as a major campaign issue in races throughout the country. Nearly every top candidate in the Florida governor’s race has taken a stance on regulating the industry, and at least one other has pledged to pursue a moratorium — or in one case, a permanent ban.
Gov. Ron DeSantis has been a staunch critic of data centers, and supported a new law this year that aimed to prevent ratepayers from shouldering the cost of the facilities’ electricity use. Both Democrats and Republicans in several states have toughened their stance on data centers in recent months, including Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, who signed a data center moratorium in New York.
On “Sunday Night with Chuck Todd” this week, Donalds criticized Hochul’s data center pause and said the moratorium, coupled with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s policies, would drive capital out of the state.
“You have business owners and business leaders saying, ‘I can’t invest there. I can’t take my business there. I got to get my business out of there.’ And when that starts to happen, you start shrinking your tax base,” Donalds said.
Though Florida's primaries are still weeks away, both Jolly and Donalds appear to have already shifted their focus — and their political jabs — to the general election. Jolly has aligned himself more with the anti-data center movement in recent weeks, and ramped up his attacks on Donalds’ position on the industry.
Donalds has received five- and six-figure contributions from multiple developers that are pursuing or previously proposed data center projects in Florida, along with millions of dollars in ad buys from a pro-AI super PAC, according to a recent POLITICO report.
After POLITICO’s report was published, Jolly posted on X that it showed, “How Byron Donalds is being funded by the data center industry he's trying to protect.”
Donalds has also appeared to shift his stance on the industry. The GOP frontrunner has released new advertisements pledging to protect citizens from data centers, and introduced the Protecting Ratepayers Act “to ensure that private developers, rather than American taxpayers, bear the investment costs of data center developments that advance our country’s technological dominance.”
