Nancy Mace pushes for statewide data center moratorium - POLITICO

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Nancy Mace pushes for statewide data center moratorium<br>The former Trump ally joins a growing bipartisan push to pause the rapid expansion of the energy-hungry AI server hubs amid concerns about rising utility costs.

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) departs a vote at the U.S. Capitol on March 25, 2026. | Francis Chung/POLITICO

By Katherine Long and Gabby Miller05/19/2026 11:53 AM EDT

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) is the latest Republican to back a freeze on new data center construction in her state as politicians from both parties grapple with how to address growing community backlash against energy-guzzling artificial intelligence server hubs.<br>The member of Congress on Monday called for a one-year moratorium on new data center construction in South Carolina — an increasingly attractive destination for developers drawn to the state by tax incentives and vast tracts of rural land. At least 44 data centers are located in South Carolina by one estimate, including a multimillion-dollar Meta campus in Aiken County.

“These companies are planting massive data centers across our state, driving up energy demand, and leaving families and small businesses to pick up the tab,” Mace said in a statement, adding that the last thing South Carolinians need is higher electricity bills.

Mace also pledged to make data centers supply their own electricity to prevent Americans from shouldering rising costs associated with the megaprojects. “The rules are simple: data centers pay their own way or they do not come here,” she wrote in a post on X.<br>The Republican’s call represents the latest sign that opposition to data centers is becoming a point of convergence for lawmakers in both political parties. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) introduced a bill in March that would enact a nationwide moratorium on the AI infrastructure until certain safety measures are put in place.<br>Mace’s office told POLITICO she does not have any immediate plans to endorse a nationwide freeze on data center construction.<br>Her stance follows President Donald Trump’s “ratepayer protection pledge,” a set of voluntary agreements struck in March with major tech companies including Amazon, Google and OpenAI aimed at easing concerns over electricity price hikes tied to the rapid expansion of AI data centers. Even so, the White House has largely taken a laissez-faire approach to AI regulation and pushed to cut red tape slowing the infrastructure build-out needed to support the technology.<br>It is yet another example of the growing divide within the GOP on data centers as lawmakers respond to public concerns about rising energy costs. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) introduced a bipartisan bill in February that would bar data centers from raising energy costs for Americans.<br>Residents’ discontent over data centers is beginning to emerge as a politically salient issue at the ballot box, posing a concern for Mace, who is currently running to become governor of South Carolina.<br>Efforts to temporarily halt construction of data centers have progressed in several state legislatures — including Mace’s own — amid public outcry over rising energy costs associated with the AI hubs. State lawmakers in South Carolina introduced a measure last month that would pause construction in the state until lawmakers establish new guardrails on the infrastructure.<br>While similar measures have popped up in at least 12 other states, most have stalled or been opposed.<br>Maine was poised to be the first state to approve a statewide data center moratorium, with legislators advancing a measure that would temporarily pause construction of data centers larger than 20 megawatts. But the bill was subsequently vetoed by Democratic Maine Gov. Janet Mills since it failed to include an exemption for a data center project in Jay, a southern town in the state that has faced economic hardship.<br>At the local level, a Texas county southwest of Dallas this week passed what may be that state’s first county-level moratorium on data centers, seeking to buy time for lawmakers to soften the blow of development sweeping across rural areas.

Filed Under: Congress<br>GOP

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