MEMORANDUM

To: Interested Parties
From: Sacha Haworth
Re: Taking on Big Tech in the 2025 VA Governor’s Race
Date: Nov. 5, 2025

Virginia Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger threaded a difficult political needle in Virginia’s data center wars, which are currently the most intense in the nation. As a former representative of Virginia’s 7th District, which includes parts of the tech corridor, she understood the economic importance of growing the tech industry. But with Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative raising rates twice in 2025 specifically to cover data center demand, and power bills up 6.7% statewide, she recognized that residents were feeling pain. Her solution – making data centers “pay their own way” through a separate ratepayer class at the State Corporation Commission – positioned her as pro-consumer and pro-growth.

She launched an energy plan in June emphasizing that Big Tech data centers should pay their “fair share”; at an IBEW training center event in July, she doubled down on the message, saying: “I do think it’s important that the brunt of data centers not be put on ratepayers, and in fact that they pay their own way and their fair share.” This contrasted sharply with Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, who defended continued data center expansion. By connecting data center demand to everyday affordability concerns, Spanberger made the issue feel personal as Democratic candidates across the state made it a priority.

Former President Obama’s message at Spanberger’s closing rally amplified this frame, explicitly linking tech billionaires to the affordability crisis: “The economy has been really good for some of Trump’s billionaire pals and for finance bros and well-connected corporations…But for ordinary families, costs haven’t gone down. They’ve gone up.” This allowed Spanberger to position the data center fight as part of a larger battle between corporate interests and working families.

Key moments

• October gubernatorial debate: Spanberger endorsed a State Corporation Commission proposal that could create a new ratepayer class specifically for data centers, saying: “it may require action within the general assembly to ensure that large utility users like data centers are paying their fair share for the energy they consume.”
• June energy platform release: As part of her energy platform, Spanberger called for “making sure data centers don’t drive up energy costs for everyone else in Virginia  including by paying their fair share of the cost of new electricity generation and transmission.”
• Closing rally with Barack Obama: The former president explicitly connected tech billionaires to affordability: “The economy has been really good for some of Trump’s billionaire pals and for finance bros and well-connected corporations … But for ordinary families, costs haven’t gone down.”

Key polling

• A recent Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll found that electricity bills are a “major” source of stress for 36% of U.S. adults, at a time when data center development for AI could further strain the power grid. 
• Power bills are up 6.7% in Virginia and other southeastern states over the 12-month period through August. Residential customers could see monthly cost increases of close to $40 by 2040, according to a December study from the Virginia Legislature’s oversight agency.
• “This is the first time I’ve really seen energy as part of the conversation during election season,” said Glenn Davis, a former state lawmaker and current director of Virginia’s Department of Energy.

Read more

Abigail Spanberger Rally with Barack Obama (C-SPAN, 11/1/25)
Obama:  “As Governor, Abigail will stand up for Virginia families. She’ll work to build an economy that works for everyone, not just big corporations and the wealthy.”

John McAuliff Wins VA Delegate Seat (More Perfect Union, 11/4/25)
Democrat John McAuliff has flipped a Virginia House of Delegates seat. The district voted for Trump last year. He ran aggressively against building more data centers in the state with the most data centers in the country.

As election nears, Democrats campaign on high utility bills, energy plans (Virginia Mercury, 10/20/25)
Clean Virginia’s “The Energy Bills are Too Damn High” tour of the state stopped in Richmond Thursday night. It was promoted as a way to allow community members to hear from Democratic elected officials and candidates about how they want to address rising utility bills in coming legislative sessions. It ultimately was a rally for Democrats leading into Election Day. 

Data center power demand is heating up; here’s where Virginia’s gubernatorial candidates on the issue (WVTF, 10/14/25)
Democrat Abigail Spanberger said the Trump administration cutting funding for green energy was doing more harm than good, but she pointed to a recent State Corporation Commission case which could create a new rate payer class specifically for data centers “It may require action within the general assembly to ensure that large utility users like data centers are paying their fair share for the energy they consume,” Spanberger said Thursday.

The sleeper issue that could play a huge role in Virginia, New Jersey and the midterms (NBC Washington, 10/15/25)
As part of former Rep. Abigail Spanberger’s energy platform, the Democratic nominee for governor in Virginia calls for “making sure data centers don’t drive up energy costs for everyone else in Virginia — including by paying their fair share of the cost of new electricity generation and transmission.” “Virginia is overdue for a statewide strategy on data centers that helps localities across every corner of the Commonwealth make informed decisions about their best path forward,” Spanberger said in a statement.

Huge AI data centers are turning local elections into fights over the future of energy (Fortune, 10/22/25)
“In Virginia, Democratic candidate Abigail Spanberger, who is polling as the frontrunner, has made data centers’ outsize energy demands a central issue, calling for tech companies to pay a “fair share” for the grid infrastructure their AI operations require. Her Republican opponent, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, supports continued data center growth while blaming Virginia’s Democratic leaders for pushing clean energy mandates too quickly, arguing that it’s their policies that threaten grid reliability and drive up costs.

As electricity bills rise, candidates in both parties blame data centers (Semafor, 10/13/25)
“I think we should, personally, block all future data centers,” said Patrick Harders, the Republican running for an open seat on the Prince William County board. George Stewart, his Democratic opponent, agreed that “the crushing and overwhelming weight of data centers” was a crisis, with massive companies “having us, as residents, pay for their energy.” As electricity bills rise, a growing number of US candidates in both parties are pointing to the high energy costs of data centers — booming thanks to tech companies’ AI investments — as the culprit. While the issue isn’t yet a flashpoint in statewide races, it’s already an overwhelming source of debate in local ones, especially in Virginia.