AI Data Centers Emerge as a Wedge Issue in the Philadelphia Suburbs

Few issues have scrambled Pennsylvania politics this year like the warehouse-sized computer facilities known as AI data centers.

More than 60 percent of Pennsylvania likely voters say data centers will do more harm than good, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Oct. 7. Eighty percent of Democrats agreed, along with 72 percent of independents. Republicans were split, with 44 percent saying the centers would do more good and 40 percent saying more harm.

In the Bucks County congressional race, Democrat Bob Harvie has made opposition his signature. His first TV ad, released in September, called for a moratorium on new data centers and accused Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of being in Big Tech’s pocket.

“I don’t want any new data centers; I want a moratorium,” Harvie said in the ad, adding that Fitzpatrick voted for $20 billion in data center giveaways.

Fitzpatrick has said he was proud to support Amazon’s effort to build a million-square-foot data center in Falls Township, a project local residents said involved little community input, according to the Bucks County Beacon.

The politics are awkward for both sides. Harvie once supported data center development close to home, a conservative-leaning local outlet noted, while Fitzpatrick has tried to position himself as a protector of ratepayers near the facilities.

The centers have become a proxy fight over energy costs, water use and who benefits from the AI boom. With the Quinnipiac numbers showing bipartisan skepticism, the issue is likely to outlast the November election.