Democratic gubernatorial nominee Keisha Lance Bottoms is calling for a pause on new data-center construction in Georgia, arguing that rapid growth in electricity demand could burden residential utility customers. Republican nominee Rick Jackson has instead said communities should have a meaningful role in deciding whether projects proceed. The dispute is also drawing attention to Jackson’s acknowledged investment in a Texas data-center project, creating an unresolved question about how his local-control position applies to his own business interests.
A campaign dispute over who bears the cost
Bottoms’ campaign says she would pause new data-center construction to protect communities from higher utility bills, according to Atlanta Daily World. Jackson has argued in an Atlanta Journal-Constitution opinion column that decisions should not be made behind closed doors and that residents should have a voice in projects affecting their communities.
Jackson also acknowledged investing in a Texas data-center project in an interview with 13WMAZ. The station reported that he views properly structured data centers as potential sources of property-tax revenue. Separate reporting by Atlanta Daily World described resident concerns in Bowie County, Texas, about water use, power demand and the public process surrounding a proposed project tied to entities associated with Jackson; the precise scope of Jackson’s financial interest and the project’s current status remain important unanswered questions.
The same report said public records connected Datahub Developers LLC with Jackson Healthcare’s address and listed Jackson as the company’s CEO and president. Those details should be distinguished from an independently established finding about ownership, control or profit: the available account describes corporate records and a reported investment, but does not by itself resolve Jackson’s precise economic role. Jackson’s campaign did not respond to Atlanta Daily World’s requests for comment, according to the outlet.
Georgia’s growth has produced a utility-cost response
The cost question is not hypothetical, even though the effect on individual household bills remains contested. The Georgia Public Service Commission says Georgia Power’s estimate of needed generation growth increased from 400 megawatts in 2022 to 6,600 megawatts in 2023 and 8,500 megawatts two years later, as reported in the commission’s data-center fact sheet.
Georgia regulators have responded with rules aimed at assigning more of the cost of serving very large new customers to those customers. On Jan. 23, 2025, the commission approved special billing terms for new customers using more than 100 megawatts, including longer contracts, minimum-billing requirements and recovery of site-specific and upstream generation, transmission and distribution costs, according to the commission’s order summary.
The commission later approved an agreement certifying 9,985 megawatts of new generation. About 80% of that capacity was expected to serve data centers, according to the commission’s fact sheet. That decision demonstrates the scale of the planning challenge, but it does not establish that residential customers will see a particular increase or that data centers are the sole cause of future rate changes.
The state has also debated tax incentives rather than construction itself. Gov. Brian Kemp vetoed a 2024 bill that would have suspended certain sales-tax exemptions for new high-technology data-center equipment; an Ernst & Young summary said Kemp argued that the pause could undermine long-term investment.
“Local control” is a set of decisions, not one statewide veto
Georgia does not use one statewide approval process for every data center. Local zoning, land-use decisions, infrastructure coordination and utility arrangements can determine whether a particular project advances. Augusta’s final-draft ordinance, for example, addresses siting, cooling technology, water use and infrastructure coordination, according to the city’s proposed ordinance.
Recent Georgia cases show that local outcomes can differ. On July 29, 2025, Monroe County’s Planning and Zoning Board rejected a proposal to rezone 900 acres for a data center after community opposition, Georgia Public Broadcasting reported. That decision involved Georgia land use and was separate from the Texas project; it shows that local opposition can affect siting, not that every community has the same authority or that a statewide pause is legally required.
The distinction matters to the campaign debate. A pause would address new development broadly, while local-control policies would leave decisions to counties and municipalities, subject to their existing zoning and infrastructure powers. Ratepayer protections, meanwhile, concern how electricity-system costs are assigned after a project seeks service. Those are related policy questions but not interchangeable ones.
What remains unresolved
Bottoms and Jackson are therefore arguing over both pace and process: whether Georgia should stop approving new projects while demand and infrastructure needs are assessed, or allow communities to decide project by project while regulators impose cost protections. The public record supports concern about the scale of projected electricity growth and documents new billing safeguards, but it does not settle how much future development should be allowed or whether those safeguards will fully prevent cost shifting.
The Texas project adds a credibility test for Jackson’s position, but the available reporting does not establish that his investment violates a law or that he controlled the Bowie County approval process. The central political question is narrower: whether voters view his call for community input as consistent with his acknowledged investment and with the level of transparency he says Georgia communities should receive.
