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How attacking data centers became smart politics for the left and right in New York
By
Jimmy Vielkind
Published Sep 17, 2026
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Darren McGee/ Office of Governor Kathy Hochul
By
Jimmy Vielkind
Published Sep 17, 2026
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This column originally appeared in The Politics Brief, our weekly newsletter on the people, power and policies that shape New Yorkers' lives.
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U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler and Gov. Kathy Hochul don’t agree on much, but they’ve both concluded that supporting AI data centers is bad politics.
Lawler’s campaign is airing a new ad blasting his Democratic challenger Cait Conley, a former counterterrorism official, for doing consulting work for AI companies and saying “we need data centers” during a candidate forum this year.
Conley has fired back that multiple data centers came to the battleground Hudson Valley district since Lawler was elected in 2022, and that she supports responsible regulations to make sure these developments don't drive up utility costs for nearby residents.
Hochul in July signed a one-year moratorium on large data center development, saying she was concerned about the effect projects have on the state’s electrical grid.
Polls show that voters across the political spectrum are concerned about server farms guzzling water and power in their communities – as well as the AI models they power. In New York, majorities of Democrats and independents as well as a plurality of Republicans support Hochul’s pause. This week both Steve Bannon and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders spoke at a “Pro-Human” conference and called for more AI regulation.
“It’s hard to say how this breaks down between the parties,” said Michael Dawidziak, a Long Island-based political consultant. “It's very clear that this is something people are very, very concerned about.”
There’s opposition around the state. State Sen. Kristen Gonzalez, a democratic socialist from Queens, recently concluded a nine-day tour including stops in Buffalo and the Finger Lakes, and met with people who are opposing data center developments in their areas.
“We went to areas that are deeply red and Republican and sat in living rooms of Trump voters and yet had the same conversation about how big tech has been bullying these local communities and trying to steamroll them,” she said.
Top of mind for people was what these centers would mean for their electricity bills, Gonzalez said. Hochul says developers are proposing data centers that would require about a third of the state’s total generating capacity. Activists and residents also worry about what an AI revolution driven by private companies could mean for jobs.
Gonzalez said she believes Hochul, a moderate, took an important first step with the moratorium. The Democratic governor reiterated this week that she wants to implement more restrictions on data centers if she’s re-elected in November.
“Clearly the federal government has failed – turned their back on the leadership responsibility they have to protect all Americans,” Hochul said Tuesday.
Republican Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, who is running against Hochul, has said he would rescind the governor’s moratorium and that he would work directly with tech companies to limit their water and energy demands.
“It seems to me that that industry is fully willing to come to the table with the state and local government and come up with solutions to problems,” Blakeman said in August, pointing to a study by the right-leaning American Legislative Exchange Council. “But just to bury your head in the sand with the fastest-growing industry in the world – this is the reason why we're 50th in economic development.”
Blakeman uses AI to generate attack ads, something Hochul’s campaign has mocked and complained about.
As the Nov. 3 Election Day nears, Dawidziak said voters will likely be hearing a lot more about data centers.
“Anytime you have an issue that generates fear in the voters,” he said, “you have a potent political issue to use.”
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This week in New York politics
- Eight months into his term, Mayor Zohran Mamdani is still waiting to be approved for a high-level security clearance from the federal government.
- Mayor Mamdani is also calling for a crackdown on reckless motorists after a series of hit-and-run deaths.
- A public spat has erupted between Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo — two of New Jersey’s most powerful Democrats — over the state's most enduring hot-button issue: property taxes.
- New York, along with 21 other states and the District of Columbia, filed a federal lawsuit asking a judge to block a new Trump administration rule granting immigration officers nearly unfettered discretion to deny green cards and visas to immigrants who use public benefits.
- As the backlash to the AI boom grows, U.S. Rep. Tom Kean Jr. of New Jersey continued to acquire stocks of companies involved in data center development, according to his latest financial report to Congress.
- Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced that prosecutors seized the domains of 12 websites used to distribute and sell AI-generated “deepfake” pornography made from images of about 1,200 real people, while acknowledging that many more such sites are still operating.
- Mahmoud Khalil, the former Columbia University graduate student who spent months detained by immigration officials last year, filed a federal lawsuit against the university over its alleged treatment of pro-Palestinian activists.
- Gov. Kathy Hochul's office said the 2016 executive order blocking New York from doing business with entities supporting the boycott, divest and sanctions movement against Israel does not apply to countries like Canada and the United Kingdom, which are set to boycott products from Israeli settlements.
- Want to make some extra cash this winter? New York City is raising the pay for emergency snow shovelers to $30 an hour.
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Jimmy Vielkind
Jimmy Vielkind covers how state government and politics affect people throughout New York. He has covered Albany since 2008, most recently as a reporter for The Wall Street Journal. Jimmy led a team of reporters that won a New York Press Club award for coverage of Andrew Cuomo’s downfall and was on a team that won a Gerald Loeb Award for coverage of Amazon’s HQ2 process. A native of the Capitol Region, Jimmy has two degrees in urban planning. His position is funded by a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Reach Jimmy at [email protected].
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