By Molly Hennessy-Fiske and Shria Ovide
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton released a “data center plan” Monday that included proposing federal legislation to block their use of Chinese technology and holding centers criminally liable if they power AI chatbots that “undermine children’s safety.”
“Texans deserve a fighter to lead and represent them as we address the growing presence of data centers in Texas and stop their negative impact on our neighborhoods,” Paxton said in a statement that avoided calling for a moratorium on the massive projects that have become increasingly unpopular among rural conservatives.
“This plan will ensure that happens while putting Texas first, protecting our culture and land, and safeguarding our families and communities,” Paxton said. “My plan will also work to ensure that data centers are not utilized to power Al platforms that endanger our children.”
Paxton — a controversial MAGA populist who won his primary runoff despite national Republicans spending millions of dollars to supportincumbent Sen. John Cornyn — is locked in a competitive race with Democratic state Rep. James Talarico. Many polls show them tied; Cook Political Report rated the race a toss-up last week.
Talarico,who has called for tighter regulations on data centers but not a moratorium, responded to Paxton’s plan Monday by noting, “Paxton has taken nearly half a million dollars from the data center industry, voted to flood Texas with data centers by giving them billions in tax handouts, and has refused to use his power as attorney general to respond to Texans’ requests to block data center development in their communities.”
He noted that Paxton’s campaign post about the plan featured a graphic that X flagged as “Made with AI.”
“He’s scared his ties to big data center companies will lose him the election, so he’s making a sad attempt to reverse course by releasing a plan he literally used AI to make,” Talarico said.
But Madison Cercy, Paxton’s campaign spokeswoman, said the data center plan came from the attorney general, not AI.
She said the Paxton “spent months crafting a plan with input from local communities, state leaders, and policy analysts” that’s “centered around putting Texas first in the AI race.”
Cercy dismissed the “poor attempt by James Talarico’s team to distract from the 11 million dollars he took from people with data center interests.”
Data centers have clearly angered voters, particularly in reliably red rural areas, and Republicans are starting to respond in Texas and nationwide.
Paxton’s four-point plan includes an endorsement of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s data center plan, announced earlier this month, that paused new centers until companies agree to electricity, water and other development limits. President Donald Trump criticized the governor’s plan, warning that Texas communities could miss out on development and jobs.
But the governor, running for reelection against a Democrat who has polled within a point of the three-term incumbent in part due to data center anger among conservatives, defended the restrictions as necessary “guardrails,” noting how many companies have already agreed to comply.
Paxton has yet to take action on his data center plan, but he’s been a trendsetter in GOP technology regulation, including seeking to protect children from perceived harms.
As attorney general, Paxton sued or investigated several social media companies due to concerns they harmed children or violated privacy. He also enforced several Texas technology laws that became blueprints for other states, including those requiring smartphone app stores and adult content websites to verify users’ ages and block minors.
Brendan Steinhauser, a Texas GOP strategist and CEO of the Alliance for Secure AI, a nonprofit focused on educating the public about the technology’s implications, said Paxton’s plan “helps him politically” but “the chatbot part might be a bit difficult to figure out, technically.”
Concerns about AI’s impact on the economy and society, and general mistrust of Big Tech, has been unifying people across the state in opposition to data center construction, Steinhauser said. “You go to very progressive downtown Austin and they’re saying similar things to rural Fayette County,” he said.
This explains, he said, the wave of Republicans turning against data center construction and the tech industry in general. “They’re telling Big Tech, it’s your fault,” he said. “They’re going to cut bait.”
Adam Thierer at the R Street Institute, a think tank that promotes limited government, criticized Paxton’s track record of pushing expansive government intervention in technology. But Thierer said Paxton is going one step further with the proposal to hold data center companies criminally liable if they power AI that harms children. He called it “really, really radical stuff” and said the proposal would be like holding companies that make ink criminally liable for what people write with it.
“A lot of politicians are playing a game of one-upmanship to see who can propose the craziest ideas” to respond to data center backlash, Thierer said, but allowed, “Some of the crazy ideas might stick.”
Gerrit De Vynck contributed to this report.