Peter Hubbard (PSC District 3) (D) called on gubernatorial candidate Rick Jackson (R) to back Georgians pushing for a vote on data centers, at a Sept. 14 event with gubernatorial candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms (D). Data centers should not be allowed in Georgia, Hubbard said, unless they meet conditions that include paying their own way with clean, renewable energy and fully disclosing their water and power usage, with no nondisclosure agreements.
Hubbard unseated Fitz Johnson (PSC District 3) (R) in a 2025 special election, 982,157 votes to 578,476, and Johnson is challenging him again in November.
Hubbard said Jackson’s data center project in Texarkana, Texas, “is using nondisclosure agreements to hide critical information from the public” [1], and that a petition there had gathered 2,000 signatures in late July. In Coweta County, he said, more than 14,000 Georgians have signed onto an effort to put the issue to a vote [2]. He called on Jackson to “put his money where his mouth is and publicly support those citizens’ right to control their own natural resources.”
Jackson has said communities should decide. “The number one issue is that every community should decide whether they want it or not, full stop,” he said at a June 2 campaign event at Columbia County GOP headquarters, as WRDW reported. He said he would create an option for some counties to host a data center, with all of the money going to the county and the city. Through July 31, Jackson had raised $118.9 million for the governor’s race, more than $111 million of it his own money, to Bottoms’ $5.8 million.
