Missouri Voters Give Boot To 2 City Council Members Who Backed Multi-Billion Dollar AI Data Center Bonanza

Voters in Independence, Missouri, voted on Tuesday to oust two city councilmembers after they backed an AI data center in the community.

Independence councilmembers Bridget McCandless, who was running for mayor, and Jared Fears both voted in favor of giving $6 billion in tax breaks to Nebius to build a large data center in the city and were defeated by anti-data center and pro-accountability opponents, Missouri-based KCUR reported. Voters in another Missouri town also voted to oust members who backed data centers in their town on the same day that voters in Independence took to the polls.

McCandless lost her race to Mayor-elect Kevin King, who supported putting the tax breaks for Nebius on the ballot and he promised more transparency on the issue going forward, according to KCUR. Fears’ and McCandless’ seats were filled by anti-data center candidate Jackie Dorman and pro-accountability candidate Cody Atkinson, who received 27% and 31% of the vote, respectively.

“People in Independence wanted a different kind of leadership, and the data center controversy became a symbol of a much larger frustration about transparency, accountability and whether residents were truly being heard,” said Misty Vaugn, a leader of the Stop the AI Data Center in Independence Facebook group. The group has amassed over 117,000 members, according to information on its Facebook page.

In March, the city council defied public outcry and voted to give more than $6 billion in tax incentives to Nebius, which promised to build the data center and described it as an “AI-factory” on the eastern side of the city, according to KCUR.