They fought against datacenters. Now they are running for local offices
Summary
Community organizers who opposed the building of large datacenters in their towns are now running for local government positions. They want to change decisions about datacenters that they believe harm the environment, increase costs, and ignore residents' concerns.Key Facts
- Monterey Park, near Los Angeles, became the first US city to ban new datacenter construction after local protests.
- Steven Kung, a key organizer against datacenters in Monterey Park, is running for city council against an official who supported the datacenter.
- The opposition to datacenters has brought together people from different political views, including environmentalists, conservatives, and socialists.
- Activists like Amy Wong in Alhambra and Jackie McGuire in Marana, Arizona, have also run for local offices to stop datacenter projects.
- Datacenter projects have faced delays or cancellations amounting to $130 billion in the first three months of 2026.
- A majority of Americans (70%) oppose building datacenters near their homes, according to a Gallup poll.
- The Working Families Party is helping datacenter activists run for office, focusing on areas with many datacenters like Michigan, Texas, and Indiana.
- Jackie McGuire won a seat on Marana’s town council after campaigning against a large datacenter planned for local farmland.
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