Michigan's two leading gubernatorial candidates agree on at least one thing: new data centers need to slow down. Jocelyn Benson and John James both said during a debate last Thursday that they support pausing new data-center development in the state, but the agreement fell apart almost immediately once they started trading accusations about money, family and past votes.
The exchange came during a gubernatorial debate hosted by WDIV and moderated by Jason Colthorp, the station's morning co-anchor and Flashpoint host, according to ClickOnDetroit. Benson and James were both asked directly where they stand on the rapid buildout of data centers across Michigan, a question that has become increasingly loaded as the facilities draw complaints over water use, electricity costs and noise. As reported by CBS News Detroit, Benson supports a moratorium on new data-center development until safeguards are in place to protect water resources, limit electricity-cost increases for residents and give local communities a voice.
Two Moratoriums, Two Very Different Plans
James also called for a moratorium during the debate, saying the state needs a plan to protect communities before any new projects move forward, per CBS News Detroit's account. His five-point proposal includes giving local communities more control over whether projects get approved, limiting electricity-bill increases, protecting water supplies, preventing pollution and steering developers toward brownfield sites instead of productive farmland.
But the agreement may be narrower than it first appeared. Following the Oct. 6 debate, James said he would not support a blanket statewide moratorium and that local governments, not Lansing, should decide whether to approve data centers, according to a fact-check by Bridge Michigan. “This will be led by the locals and not by Lansing,” James said, per that report.
Benson's campaign has laid out its own list of conditions on her website, calling for developers to negotiate with communities in the open, banning them from tax breaks and from using up local water, and requiring them to pay for their own power. She has also called for public hearings, transparency and disclosure reporting, and union contracts tied to any approved projects, according to her campaign's issues page.
Benson's Husband and the Saline Township Project
The sharpest exchanges centered on the Saline Township data center, part of a multi-billion-dollar project called Stargate led by OpenAI and Oracle that would span a 250-acre site, as reported by Michigan Public. Benson's husband, Ryan Friedrichs, worked on the project as senior vice president-Michigan for Related Companies, the same Bridge Michigan fact-check found.
James accused Benson of gaining $370,000 in profit tied to the project and failing to disclose it in 2025, and said she and her husband overrode Saline residents' will to pave over productive farmland, contrary to her public commitments. He also said Benson arrived at her moratorium position only after making $370,000 on what he described as deals conducted in back rooms. Benson has disclosed her finances and said her family has not profited from data centers, though Bridge Michigan's reporting found her husband earned $370,000 from his employer in 2025, at least in part for his work on the Saline project. Related Companies told the outlet that Friedrichs receives zero commission or compensation from the Related Digital data-center project itself. The same report notes Friedrichs worked on the Saline project from early summer 2025 through February 2026 and announced in March that he would no longer work on any projects in Michigan.
James Faces His Own Questions Over Votes and Investments
Benson fired back with her own set of accusations, claiming James voted four times to deny local residents a say over data centers. Bridge Michigan's fact-check found the specific vote in question involved an artificial-intelligence provision that was ultimately stripped from the final law. James voted in May 2025 for the House version of H.R. 1, which included a proposed 10-year moratorium barring state and local governments from regulating artificial-intelligence systems, including data centers, according to Michigan Advance. That provision did not make it into the final version of the law that passed.
Why the Issue Is Resonating With Voters
The fight over data centers isn't just campaign theater. An EPIC-MRA survey conducted in late August found 73% of respondents opposed current federal policies encouraging data-center development, according to the same Michigan Advance report. An August EPIC-MRA poll found 62% opposed data-center development in the state, as reported by the Detroit Free Press.
Residents have raised concerns over rising energy costs, noise pollution and impacts on local water supplies, the Free Press reported.
Other candidates for office have staked out similar ground. Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rogers has called for a one-year Michigan moratorium on new data centers while stronger standards are established, per MiTechNews. Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed has backed both state and local moratoriums alongside calls for stronger environmental protections, transparency and public benefits, the same outlet reported.
The stakes in Saline Township itself are substantial. Project partners have projected more than 2,500 union construction jobs and roughly 450 permanent on-site positions tied to the development, MiTechNews reported. Construction on the site has already begun, and the electricity arrangements for the project have received regulatory approval, though that approval is being challenged in court, according to the same report.
