New super PAC backs South Carolina senator in data center fight

In short: A new super PAC called Building the Future is spending money on ads to support Sen. Darline Graham, as data centers become a key issue in a tight South Carolina Senate race.

What happened

Building the Future is a newly formed super PAC aligned with the data center industry. A super PAC is a political group that can raise and spend large amounts of money to influence elections, but it cannot coordinate directly with a candidate’s campaign.

The group launched in August and says it supports candidates who favor data centers and other infrastructure used for AI. Data centers are large buildings filled with computers that store and process data, like the warehouses of the internet.

Building the Future began running ads for Graham in October. Early reports described more than $400,000 in spending, and later reporting said the PAC set aside $1.5 million for ads supporting her. The spending is separate from Graham’s own campaign, and the PAC’s donors were not yet publicly disclosed at the time of the reported expenditure.

Data centers have become a campaign flashpoint in Graham’s race against Democrat Annie Andrews. Graham has argued the facilities are important for jobs and for keeping the US competitive with China. Andrews has called for a two-year pause on new data center construction and for protections to keep electricity costs from rising for consumers.

Why it matters

Big data centers can bring construction and tech jobs, but they also use a lot of electricity. This race shows how local concerns like power bills and new development are becoming tied to national debates about AI and the computer infrastructure behind it.

Source: NYTimes