Florida Democratic Senate candidate Angie Nixon believes the country should consider pausing the construction of new artificial intelligence data centers—and jokes that if companies insist on building them, they should start at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Speaking to Newsweek in a wide-ranging interview, Nixon, a state representative who scored an upset victory in Florida's Democratic Senate primary last month, called for greater scrutiny of the rapidly expanding facilities amid concerns about their impact on electricity costs, water supplies and the environment. "I think there needs to be a moratorium until more research is done," Nixon said.
"Or if people want to build a data center, they should put it on Mar-a-Lago." The issue is becoming increasingly politically salient as the AI boom drives a surge in proposed data centers across the country. Bipartisan opposition has emerged from communities concerned about their impact on electricity grids, water usage and utility bills. Both Republican- and Democratic-led states have taken or proposed steps—including moratoriums—to address concerns, but Trump has downplayed the widespread unease.
The president has repeatedly spoken out against AI regulations, referring to the backlash as a “hoax” and suggesting opposition will result in communities becoming “backwards and poor.” Nixon told Newsweek she was not opposed to AI or technological innovation but wanted tougher guardrails around privacy, employment and the construction of data centers. She also floated a proposal modeled loosely on Alaska's system of distributing revenue associated with its natural resources: requiring or creating a mechanism for communities affected by data centers to receive some form of financial benefit. "Do we do what they do in Alaska, which is like, they give dividends to people who are impacted by the pipeline?" Nixon said.
"Do we do the same thing for the now existing AI data centers?" Nixon did not detail how such a program could work, but similar ideas are being considered already. Illinois lawmakers have proposed requiring certain data centers receiving state tax incentives to make payments to host communities, with some of the money benefiting homeowners through payments, credits or rebates, while proposals in New York would provide electricity-bill credits or energy improvements to residents near large data centers. At the federal level, Democratic lawmakers have proposed taxing data centers to offset some of their economic and community impacts.
While Nixon's Alaska comparison is not precise—the state's Permanent Fund invests mineral revenues and uses investment earnings to help fund annual dividends—the proposals share the principle of returning some economic benefit to communities affected by major development. Beyond the raging debate over AI, Nixon's campaign is testing whether this year's political environment can make a state that has shifted sharply toward Republicans competitive again. Trump, who has made Mar-a-Lago his primary residence, won Florida by about 13 percentage points in 2024, taking nearly 56 percent of the vote compared with Democrat Kamala Harris' roughly 43 percent.
Republicans also now hold a commanding voter-registration advantage. As of August 31, Florida had about 5.65 million active registered Republicans compared with 4.10 million Democrats—a gap of more than 1.5 million voters. The Cook Political Report currently rates the Florida Senate race Solid Republican, underscoring the scale of Nixon's challenge.
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