Democrats Campaign On Power Bills After Blocking GOP Data Center Plan

Democratic Senate candidates are campaigning on data center electricity costs mere weeks after Senate Democrats blocked a Republican bill aimed at keeping those costs off households.

Former Democratic Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown has called his opponent, Republican Ohio Sen. Jon Husted, “the face of data centers” and pledged to “require the data centers pay the full cost of their electricity, not you,” Roll Call reported Monday. Husted is the Senate sponsor of the Ratepayer Protection Act, which fell short on a procedural vote Sept. 30.

The bill received 57 votes to advance, three short of the 60 needed, according to the Senate’s roll call. All 43 votes against it came from Democrats and the two independents who caucus with them, while four Democrats voted yes. Brown, who is seeking a return to the Senate, did not vote on it.

Husted is seeking another way to pass the measure, including through bipartisan permitting legislation, a spokesperson for the senator said in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“Senate Democrats’ argument against the Ratepayer Protection Act was a cop-out and blatantly ignored what the American people want,” Husted’s spokesperson said in a statement to the DCNF.

Democrats said the measure was too weak because states could reject its cost protections. Democratic New Mexico Sen. Martin Heinrich objected when Husted sought to pass the bill by unanimous consent Sept. 17 and asked the Senate to pass his own GRID Savings Act instead, according to Heinrich’s office.

Brown’s campaign and Heinrich’s office did not respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment.

The House passed the bill 417-3 on Sept. 16. It would require state regulators and utilities that set their own rates to consider standards that make large data centers cover the cost of power-generation and grid upgrades needed to serve them, according to the bill text. The White House backed the bill, saying President Donald Trump’s advisers would recommend that he sign it.

“Senator Husted’s bill outlines a federal standard. It then requires states to consider that standard and determine what would best address their own state’s individual needs,” Husted’s spokesperson said in a statement to the DCNF.

“Making the data centers accountable, not the American ratepayer,” Husted said in floor remarks that his office released the day of the vote.

Data centers have long been a key issue in the November Ohio Senate race between Brown and Husted, and the Democratic former senator has made his criticism of the AI centers a key part of his campaign. An August memo the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) wrote to AI companies wanred that data centers “are the anchor hanging around Husted’s neck.” The nonpartisan Cook Poltical Report rates the race as a “toss up.”

The proposed standard also calls for customers to provide financial guarantees or contributions before utilities build the necessary upgrades, and to cover upgrade costs even if they end their contracts or stop buying power. Regulators would generally have one year to begin considering the standard and two years to reach a decision, according to the bill.

“Rather than voluntary pledges or suggestions to states, Congress needs to pass real legislation with real teeth,” Heinrich said in floor remarks his office released. Republican Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno, who unseated Brown in 2024, objected to Heinrich’s request, according to the release.

Sarah Wagoner, an energy policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation, called making data centers cover the cost of new power supplies and grid infrastructure a “sound principle.”

“Because the bill requires states and utilities to consider that standard, the actual protection for households would depend on whether regulators adopt it,” Wagoner said in a statement to the DCNF.

Wagoner urged Ohio and Maine to let data centers finance and build their own reliable power supply. She pointed to options including generation separate from the grid and building power plants alongside data centers in her statement to the DCNF.

“Ohio has already shown that this approach can bring new power online without exposing existing ratepayers to the costs or risks and should expand that approach. Maine should follow that model and allow large load customers to build the reliable supply needed to meet new demand,” Wagoner said in a statement to the DCNF.

“The industry remains committed to paying its full cost for the energy it uses,” Michele Nellenbach, vice president of federal affairs at the Data Center Coalition, said in a statement to the DCNF.

Republican Maine Sen. Susan Collins pointed to her support for Husted’s bill when her Democratic opponent Troy Jackson pressed her on data centers during an Oct. 15 debate, Roll Call reported. Cook also rates the Maine Senate race as a “toss up.”

Half of U.S. adults called data centers “mostly bad” for home energy costs, up from 38 percent in January, according to Pew Research Center.

Pew surveyed 10,548 U.S. adults from July 20 to Aug. 9, with a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 1.3 percentage points.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.