IN THE NEWS: Hinojosa Calls for Data Center Moratorium Until Abbott Convenes Legislature

July 24, 2026

Austin, TX – Yesterday, Democratic nominee for Texas Governor Gina Hinojosa called on Greg Abbott to sign an emergency executive order placing a moratorium on data centers until the legislature convenes to implement accountability that puts Texans first.

Hinojosa’s made clear that Abbott could convene the legislature today to ensure basic protections are in place for the people of Texas, including: “requiring data centers to hire union workers, empowering local officials to negotiate with developers or reject new projects, barring data centers from using non-disclosure agreements to conceal their water and energy usage, and shielding consumers from data center-driven utility hikes,” said the Texas Tribune.

Data centers’ “threat to rural life, ranchland and dwindling water supplies could become a defining issue for [Hinojosa], dividing conservative rural areas that have traditionally served as a counterweight to Democrats’ urban strongholds,” wrote the Associated Press. “Republican opponents of data centers say it’s possible or even certain they won’t vote for Abbott.”

During a press conference, Hinojosa outlined how Abbott is “trying to punt the potentially toxic political issue to after November’s high-stakes midterms,” wrote the Houston Chronicle.

This past weekend, Gina traveled across the Texas Panhandle to meet with local leaders, community advocates, and voters about the rapid expansion of data centers and the need to protect Texas communities. Hinojosa held roundtables, town halls and site visits in Lubbock and Amarillo, where she heard directly from Texans about the impact data centers could have on their water, power grid and quality of life.

Read more below.

Associated Press: Democrats seize on AI data center backlash that’s dividing rural Republicans in places like Texas

When Gina Hinojosa, the Democratic nominee for Texas governor, began her campaign last year, candidates weren’t talking about — or hearing about — data centers that power artificial intelligence.
But with barely three months until November’s contest, the perceived threat to rural life, ranchland and dwindling water supplies could become a defining issue for her challenge to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, dividing conservative rural areas that have traditionally served as a counterweight to Democrats’ urban strongholds.
“There is this little issue that I recently started hearing about that I wanted to tell you about, in case you don’t know,” Hinojosa quipped to a Democratic Party-organized crowd of about 160 seated on fold-out chairs at an Amarillo social club in Texas’ panhandle. “It’s this issue of data centers.”
The crowd booed, and she went on: “They are owned by the richest men in the world. We’re all footing the bill. There are no rules. It is the wild west of data centers.”
The fast growth of massive data centers has already upended races for local offices across the country, often uniting conservatives and liberals in revolting against projects in their midst.
Now the ripple effects have spread to top-of-the-ticket races, where incumbents and challengers are trying to show that they hear an angry electorate.
Any political unrest may be felt most acutely in Texas.
In rural west Texas and its panhandle, gargantuan data centers are under construction, including one near Amarillo touted as the world’s largest. Some come with designs for natural gas-fired turbines to power them.
Democrats are prominent among the data center critics, but so are Republicans, including Texas’ sitting agriculture commissioner, Sid Miller. They say there are many more Republicans who are quieter because they fear publicly opposing their governor and party.
“They’re upset with Greg Abbott,” said Suzanne Bellsnyder, a former Republican activist from Spearman who writes a syndicated column that advocates for rural Texas. Abbott has aggressively advocated for big projects in Texas and, in November, he helped make Google’s announcement of a $40 billion investment there, saying “Texas is the epicenter of AI development.”
Compounding that, Texas counties don’t have zoning authority — precisely the local land planning authority that communities around the country are increasingly using to fight off data centers.
Abbott seems to recognize that data centers are dividing his base.
Hinojosa and others derided Abbott’s words about “rural Texas neighborhoods” as meaningless — “doublespeak that makes no sense to anyone,” Hinojosa said — and lacking urgency or seriousness.
“Now we have this gold rush of data centers in our communities,” Hinojosa said in an interview, adding that “people want a say, and I think that’s fair.”
As governor, she said she’d block a permit for a data center if it wasn’t a good deal for Texans or residents hadn’t gotten a say in the matter.
Abbott’s campaign season turnabout on data centers doesn’t seem to have soothed many.
“Oh, I guarantee you, it’s on everybody’s mind,” said Giles Dalby, a cattle rancher and a Republican county commissioner in west Texas.
Texas is increasingly steamrolling over landowner rights in the quest for public water, Dalby said, and that could mean that data centers get in line ahead of ranchers when shortages or rationing worsen.
Meanwhile, protest groups are springing up, including one in Lubbock that is led by Republicans. The founders, Stephen Sanders and Hallie Bertrand, like some other Republican opponents of data centers, say it’s possible or even certain they won’t vote for Abbott.

Houston Chronicle: Gina Hinojosa calls on Greg Abbott to halt data center construction

Gina Hinojosa, the Democrat running for governor, on Thursday called on Gov. Greg Abbott to halt all data center construction in the state until lawmakers craft rules for the projects, which have voters up in arms.
The Austin state representative accused Abbott of trying to punt the potentially toxic political issue to after November’s high-stakes midterms, arguing he should call lawmakers back to Austin now for a special session to set regulations.
“Greg Abbott talks a big game about what he will do after the election. The thing is, he has the power to do it today,” Hinojosa said during a press conference. “This problem is in his lap and in his lap alone.”
Hinojosa said data centers are the “embodiment” of the populist themes she is campaigning on.
“Is this a state that is by and for the people, or the billionaires’ playground and we just live here?” she said.
Abbott’s position on data centers has shifted rapidly amid his run for a record-breaking fourth term. He has gone from touting Texas as the “epicenter of AI development” in November to vowing to push back against “AI data centers” earlier this month.
Abbott’s campaign declined to comment.
She was joined at her Thursday press conference by a handful of residents living in communities with data centers, including Tom Weeks of Granbury. Weeks said his community is “under siege” by the noisy developments that rumble throughout the night leaving him and his neighbors sleep deprived.
Weeks told Hearst Newspapers he is a lifelong Republican who has voted for Abbott every time he’s been on the ballot. Now Weeks said he is a “one-issue voter” and will not support Abbott again.
“I think Abbott right now is just pandering,” Weeks said. “If he wins, he’ll go right back to his former stance. I don’t think he’s going to change.”

KXAN: Hinojosa urges Abbott to halt new data centers until lawmakers act

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa called on Gov. Greg Abbott Wednesday to immediately halt new data center development in Texas, arguing the governor should use his executive authority to pause projects until lawmakers can adopt statewide regulations.
During a virtual conference, Hinojosa said residents across Texas have raised concerns about the rapid growth of data centers, particularly in rural communities, citing issues including water consumption, electricity demand, transparency and local control.
“I am calling on Greg Abbott to issue a moratorium on any new data centers with an emergency executive order,” Hinojosa said. She argued the pause should remain in place until the Legislature can establish protections requiring greater transparency, local input, licensed labor and safeguards for water and electric resources.
The press conference featured residents from Granbury, El Paso and Lubbock who described what they said were the impacts of nearby data center development, including noise, water use, rising utility concerns and frustration over a lack of public input.
The proposal comes as data centers have become a significant political concern in Texas ahead of the November election. State leaders are actively promoting Texas as a hub for artificial intelligence investment, prompting both Republicans and Democrats to advocate for increased oversight of the rapidly expanding industry.
Abbott has also shifted his position in recent weeks.
Hinojosa acknowledged Abbott has recently called for reforms but argued the governor should act immediately rather than waiting for the 2027 legislative session.
“He has the sole unique authority to issue an emergency executive order and or to call a special session of the Legislature to take action to bring relief to Texans now,” she said.

Texas Tribune: James Talarico calls for tighter regulations on data center development

State Rep. Gina Hinojosa, the Democratic candidate for governor, unveiled her own plan Thursday after she visited Amarillo and Lubbock over the weekend on a campaign swing focused on rural communities’ concerns about data centers. She has attacked Gov. Greg Abbott for campaign contributions he’s accepted from donors with ties to data centers and blamed him for state policies, from Texas’ light regulatory touch to its tax incentives for data centers, that have contributed to the initial buildup of the facilities. Lawmakers expanded the sales tax exemption in 2015, during Abbott’s first term, creating a new tax break category for larger data center projects.
“That’s why there is this mad rush to start a data center in Texas — it is like the gold rush,” Hinojosa said during a virtual news conference Thursday. “Greg Abbott talks a big game about what he will do after the election. The thing is, he has the power to do it today.”
Hinojosa called on Abbott to sign an emergency executive order imposing a moratorium on data centers until the Legislature reconvenes in January, noting the governor could also call a special legislative session on the issue at any point before 2027.
Her proposals also included requiring data centers to hire union workers, empowering local officials to negotiate with developers or reject new projects, barring data centers from using non-disclosure agreements to conceal their water and energy usage, and shielding consumers from data center-driven utility hikes.
At Hinojosa’s news conference, residents of Granbury, Lubbock and El Paso spoke of data centers and crypto-mining facilities that had popped up in their neighborhoods, describing a lack of local say and transparency surrounding the projects’ development and the tax breaks they received.
“Since when do billionaires deserve charity?” Tom Weeks of Granbury said. “We’re being drowned in our taxes and they’re getting all these breaks. I just think that we’re getting the middle finger is what we’re getting, and I’m at a point where I want to snap that middle finger off.”
The Texas Tribune reported in April that the state is poised to lose $3.2 billion in tax revenue over the next two years because of the data center sales tax exemption first approved by lawmakers in 2013, when the facilities were smaller and used fewer resources. Local officials have asked the state to give them more authority to regulate data center development in their communities. Tracking data center growth in Texas is also difficult, as the state does not log new data center construction, and information about their location and energy use has not been made public.
A spokesperson for Abbott’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
The three-term governor, who is running for a fourth, initially gave his full-throated support for the industry, declaring in November that Texas would become the “epicenter of AI development” while announcing Google had made a $40 billion investment in cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure in the state.

Fort Worth Star-Telegram: Halt data center projects now, Democratic challenger urges Texas Gov. Abbott

Hinojosa urged Abbott to issue a moratorium on any new data centers through an executive order. The projects should be halted until the Legislature can meet and pass “basic protection for Texans, she said.
Lawmakers don’t return to Austin until January, unless Abbott orders a 30-day special session.
By waiting until next year to take regulatory actions, Hinojosa said, Abbott is broadcasting to data centers that they have a year to get their projects in under the wire, “with no rules.”
Hinojosa said that the Legislature should ensure data centers are being built by licensed and experienced American union labor. And she advocated for ending the state’s sales tax exemption for data centers, transparency around electricity and water consumption and local control over if and how data centers enter a community.
Abbott’s campaign declined to comment.“Greg Abbott talks a big game about what he will do after the election,” Hinojosa said. “The thing is, he has the power to do it today.”

KUVE: Growing bipartisan pushback against data centers in Texas

WATCH FULL CLIP HERE

Today, the Democrat running for governor, State Representative Gina Hinajosa, said that she wants the governor to issue an executive order to halt data center development until he calls a special session to address it.
“Data centers are coming in and doing as they please, and the people have no say. They have no power and this is happening at a very alarming rate, and people need relief.”

Spectrum News: Hinojosa Calls for Data Center Moratorium

WATCH FULL CLIP HERE

Democratic candidate for governor Gina Hinojosa is calling on Abbott to do more.
Today, she posted this video online urging Abbott to sign an emergency executive order declaring a moratorium on new data centers until he calls a special session on the issue.
Abbott has yet to comment on the issue.

KAMR: Democratic nominee for Texas Governor Gina Hinojosa Town Hall in Texas Panhandle

WATCH FULL CLIP HERE

Texas Democratic Nominee for Governor Gina Hinojosa was in the Texas Panhandle this weekend to discuss policies and connect with voters.
At today’s town hall, Hinojosa discussed her policies if she were elected governor, including topics related to those here on the High Plains, such as data centers and school vouchers.
Hinojosa said this regarding data centers, “There is no regulation on the electricity or the water they consume, and it is all to create a product, an AI, that takes all our jobs. That is the Wild West we are operating under, Greg Abbott, and it stops when I’m governor, and I will be rolling out that specific policy in the coming days.”

Texas Tech Public Media: Daily Newscast

Hinojosa sat down at a table with community members to talk about data centers.
“I know that y’all are leaders in this community and you have big fights happening and I hear you’re winning. It’s exciting to see what is happening as an outsider looking in.”
The discussion included leaders from the group Save Lab, which is currently collecting signatures to put an 18-month moratorium on data center development before the city council, from the advocacy group Lubbock Compact, and others from the surrounding area who have been outspoken on the issue of large-scale data centers.
Hinojosa praised the Lubbock community for mobilizing earlier in the year when a data center proposal was put before the planning and zoning commission. She said that allowing decisions to be made on the local level by elected officials who know their communities means more accountability than when control is held at the state level like the governor’s office.
“We should be investing in people. What if we were to instead invest in small businesses who employ people from the community and who are Texans, right? I think we need a clean slate and fresh start. I think where we start because what I have seen in the Texas House is that we are all paying into a system that is working against us. I’m sorry to say that’s where we are.”
She said that her hope with the conversation was to hear what the path forward is for regulation and oversight on these projects.

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