Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico said Wednesday that data center construction in Texas should not be allowed to contribute to the state's ongoing affordability crisis.
State Rep. Talarico, who is running against Republican Ken Paxton to represent Texas in the U.S. Senate, discussed data centers while participating in a Q&A dialogue with the United States Hispanic Business Council (USHBC).
USHBC President Javier Palomarez moderated the discussion and asked Talarico how he would approach data center construction if elected.Talarico said he believes data centers are "exacerbating the affordability crisis."
"If a data center company can't meet the demands of the community where they seek to operate, if they can't pay for their own energy, if they can't pay for their own water and recycle their water, if they can't get the consent and the input of the police who live in these communities, then they shouldn't be built," Talarico said.
RELATED: Gov. Abbott has ordered a ‘pause' on data center approvals. Here's what that means.
Paxton participated in his own Q&A session with the USHBCearlier this week. In his own discussion, Paxton called for balancing border security with immigration reform to help labor-starved business sectors.
Over the past year, artificial intelligence and the data centers needed to power them have become increasingly hot-button issues, particularly as the November midterm election approaches.
Talarico argued data centers should not be strong-arming communities and should instead be working with the communities in which they hope to become a part of.
"I'm someone who believes in local control, and I've fought for it in the state legislature, and I don't want to make economic development decisions for our communities," he said. "What I want to ensure is that it is a two-way street, because right now a lot of these giant data center companies are running over local communities, and these giant data centers are popping up in people's backyards and there's no input."
RELATED: Paxton worries about drop in polling numbers after midterm GOP convention in leaked audio
During the discussion on data centers, Talarico criticized Paxton, Texas’ current attorney general, for allegedly taking campaign donations from some of the companies behind data centers.
"I'll just say, I haven't taken a dime from data center companies," he said. "My opponent in this race has taken nearly half a million dollars from data center companies, and so what we need is a senator who's going to be independent, who is going to fight for Texans in these negotiations and ensure that these negotiations are fair."
RELATED: Data center industry contributes thousands to Paxton campaign
Both discussions covered a wide range of topics from healthcare to immigration, and the full talks can be found on theUSHBC's website.
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