The election of Democrat Gina Hinojosa as Texas governor could significantly slow the state’s booming data center industry, creating an opportunity for Louisiana to attract projects that might otherwise have been developed there, Bloomberg reports.
Hinojosa has pledged to impose an immediate moratorium on new data center approvals until lawmakers establish stronger protections for communities, utility customers and water resources. Her victory, along with Democratic gubernatorial wins in Ohio and Georgia, highlights growing political resistance to the rapid expansion of AI infrastructure and could leave roughly half of proposed U.S. data center additions vulnerable to greater scrutiny and local opposition.
Texas, which accounts for nearly 30% of the nation’s data center capacity expected to come online by 2028, faces particular uncertainty. An estimated 13 gigawatts of proposed capacity are exposed to potential regulatory changes. Projects with power arrangements but without state environmental permits could face delays of 12 to 18 months, while projects lacking both could be redirected to states such as Louisiana and Oklahoma, according to analyst Gordon Johnson of GLJ Research.
In Ohio, newly elected Gov. Amy Acton has called for a conditional moratorium on new projects, while Georgia newly elected Gov. Keisha Lance Bottoms has supported a temporary halt to new construction. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has also become more critical of speculative projects and developments opposed by local communities.
The political shift could increase development costs, extend permitting timelines and create additional requirements for companies investing trillions of dollars in AI infrastructure. Potential regulatory changes involving electricity costs, water consumption, grid infrastructure and tax incentives could slow data center construction and the broader rollout of artificial intelligence.
