Races up and down the ballot around the country for the 2026 midterm elections have something in common: the issue of data center development is taking center stage.
On Aug. 18, Gov. Josh Shapiro signed an executive order he said put the “strictest guardrails in the nation” on the industry, arguing that Pennsylvania has become filled with data center speculators.
While Shapiro and his Republican challenger, State Treasurer Stacy Garrity, have taken aim at one another for their evolving views on data center development, congressional candidates in battleground districts are also weighing in on the latest executive order.
The responses to Shapiro’s executive order in four key races, which could determine the majority of the U.S. House in 2027, largely fell along party lines.
“I’ve been clear on this issue from the beginning,” U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan, R-8th District, said to The Center Square. “Locals know what’s best for their communities, and decisions like these should be put in their hands. I’m glad to see Governor Shapiro now agrees with my stance.”
Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti, a Democrat, is challenging Bresnahan for the seat in northeast Pennsylvania. While she agrees that local communities should be responsible for making decisions about data centers, she celebrated Shapiro’s order.
“NEPA has a long history of being taken advantage of by greedy corporations. I’ve been clear: we can’t let data center developers be the latest corporate interest using our community to line their pockets, only to leave us holding the bag,” Cognetti’s campaign said in a statement to The Center Square. “I have not seen any projects in NEPA that should move forward.”
“We need leaders at every level standing up and letting everyone know we are not for sale. I support this order from the Governor blocking irresponsible data center development and putting power back in the hands of communities across our Commonwealth,” she added. “No higher utility costs, no risk to our air and water, no hiding behind NDAs, no tax breaks, and most importantly, local communities get to decide if and how data centers get built.”
Just south of Pennsylvania’s 8th Congressional District is another closely watched contest between Republican U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie and Democratic challenger Bob Brooks, a firefighters’ union leader, for the 7th Congressional District.
One day after Shapiro signed the data center executive order, both candidates were asked by NBC10 to respond.
“The governor is the one that put in fast-track permitting for data centers, so he is the one that was leading the charge on pushing these data centers on all of our local communities,” Mackenzie said. “There have been those, like myself, who have said we need to pause, we need to figure out how they’re going to pay for the electricity that they put on the grid, the noise pollution in our local communities: make sure that local zoning is authorized and approved.”
“And so, thankfully, the governor is actually catching up to all of us across Pennsylvania who have been saying that there need to be these precautionary measures and the guardrails in place,” he continued. “But that is a big change, a sea change, from where he was just a year ago.”
When responding to a question from NBC10 about the executive order, Brooks said that he trusts the governor.
“I really, quite honestly, haven’t really dug into the executive order yet,” he said. “I trust the governor. He’s done really good things for Pennsylvania, and if he sees this as a good move, I trust in the decisions that he makes.”
If elected, Brooks mentioned that he sees the issue of data centers as being “more of a local issue.”
“And they got to start with ordinances. So, I mean, I will support the local elected officials around here, if they start to make moves…but I think the move that the governor made today essentially gives the local municipality the power, and he will support that,” Brooks said. “So, I think that’s really where we need to be right now until we can all figure this out. But I do like being proactive, not reactive.”
He added on social media Aug. 18, that “we must pass national legislation that makes these protections federal law and in Congress that is what I’ll fight for.”
U.S. Rep. Scott Perry, a Republican representing the state’s 10th Congressional District, is seeking an eighth term this fall against Democrat Janelle Stelson, a former central Pennsylvania television.
Perry, the former chair of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, took a more direct jab at Shapiro in response to the governor’s executive order.
“Two months ago, Josh Shapiro was handing out tax credits like candy to the wealthiest corporations to bring data centers to every community in PA,” Perry’s campaign told The Center Square. “Now, he’s completely changed his position because it’s politically expedient.”
“He (is) a craven flip-flopper who can’t be trusted and cares about nothing except his endless crusade to become president,” he continued. “The only thing Shapiro cares about is Shapiro.”
Stelson, who narrowly lost to Perry in 2024, credited Shapiro over the move from his administration, while criticizing the GOP incumbent.
“The recent Data Center executive order is a positive step, particularly in contrast to the actions of politicians like Congressman Scott Perry who voted to give data center companies a massive tax break and who said that Pennsylvania “can’t afford to slow down” on building more data centers,” Stelson’s campaign told The Center Square.
Stelson’s dig at Perry is in reference to previous comments made by the GOP congressman in December, when he said that the United States is “in a race for AI with China.”
One thing those three races have in common, according to the Cook Political Report, is that they are all “toss-ups.”
The race for Pennsylvania’s 1st Congressional District, situated in the suburbs north of Philadelphia, is between GOP U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick and Bucks County Commissioner Bob Harvie, a Democrat.
Fitzpatrick, co-chair of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, was the lone Republican who responded to The Center Square who didn’t take a jab at Shapiro in his response.
“Congressman Fitzpatrick supports Governor Shapiro’s Executive Order,” his office told The Center Square. “The needs of our residents and our local community must always come first – and our residents must always be an integral part of any governmental decision-making that impacts their quality of life.”
Harvie, like the other Democrats running in battleground races, touted Shapiro’s decision, while also accusing Fitzpatrick of not doing enough on the matter.
“Communities across Bucks and Montco are worried about irresponsible data centers that raise energy costs, suck up our water supply and take advantage of us to turn a profit,” Harvie’s campaign told The Center Square. “While this happens, Brian Fitzpatrick is doing nothing.”
“In Congress I will fight for federal data center regulations and I’m grateful that Governor Shapiro is taking a strong stand here in Pennsylvania,” he added. “Data Centers cannot be allowed to raise our costs, and our communities must have the right to say no.”
In a newsletter sent out by Fitzpatrick’s office on Aug. 21, the Bucks County Republican said that he’ll be signing on to the bipartisan Ratepayer Protection Act, H.R. 6984, which he argues would “require greater disclosure of data centers’ energy consumption, water use, environmental impacts, and effects on local utility systems and household costs.”
Mackenzie is also listed as a co-sponsor of that proposal.
The four Democrats in these battleground congressional races are supporting Shapiro’s bid for a second term. The governor is also supporting their respective campaigns for office.
As of Aug. 27, Bresnahan, Mackenzie, and Perry have endorsed Garrity’s bid for governor. However, despite praising her leadership in 2025 for “strengthening the financial foundation of our communities”, Fitzpatrick has not formally issued an endorsement in the 2026 race for governor.
While there isn’t public polling breaking down data center approval ratings in each congressional district, a pair of polls released this week show that they are not popular in Pennsylvania.
Sixty-two percent in Pennsylvania, according to a New York Times/Philadelphia Inquirer/Siena poll, said that they either strongly or somewhat opposed the construction of data centers, while 33% said they support it. A Franklin and Marshall College poll showed that four in five, 79%, oppose having a data center built in their community.
The issue of data centers has also garnered the attention of a few elected officials not in reliably red and blue regions of the state.
They also seemingly fell along party lines in their response to Shapiro’s executive order.
“Josh Shapiro’s favorite shoes must be flip-flops because over the last year he has been touting billions of dollars in data center deals, only to do an about-face with this executive order,” U.S. Rep. Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson, R-Centre, said to The Center Square.
U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans, D-Philadelphia, said that he applauded Shapiro “for taking strong action to protect Pennsylvanians!”
“He would probably prefer to pass legislation to have longer-term protections in place, but inaction from the Republicans who have controlled the state Senate for 33 years prevented that,” Evans told The Center Square.