2026 Governor Races: Data Center Bans and Policies in TX, OH, GA

All three races were called on election night. Gina Hinojosa (Texas), Amy Acton (Ohio), and Keisha Lance Bottoms (Georgia) each campaigned on slowing data centers and shifting costs off households. What they can actually do is constrained by statutes already on the books, independent regulators, and legislatures they do not fully control. As of November 5, 2026, none has issued a post-election policy revision; the campaign pledges are still the operative record.

Who won, and how settled the races are

The Associated Press and multiple national outlets called all three races on November 3–4, 2026. These are not recounts or unresolved contests.

Gina Hinojosa, a Democratic state representative from Austin, defeated three-term Republican Greg Abbott. Reuters, NBC, CBS, the Guardian, PBS, and The Washington Post all projected her win. Early tallies put her near 52–53 percent to Abbott’s mid-40s; one Reuters-partnered count showed 5,150,962 votes (52.9 percent) to Abbott’s 4,436,382 (45.6 percent). She is the first Democrat elected Texas governor since Ann Richards and is expected to take office in January 2027. Democrats also flipped the Texas House; Republicans kept the Senate at about 19–12, and Democrat Vikki Goodwin won lieutenant governor.

Amy Acton, a Democrat and former state health director, defeated Republican Vivek Ramaswamy. The New York Times (via AP), NPR, BBC, CBS, and The Washington Post called it. A Reuters-partnered tally showed Acton and running mate David Pepper at 2,404,178 votes (52.3 percent) to Ramaswamy’s 2,039,730 (44.4 percent). She is the first woman elected Ohio governor and the first Democrat in the office since 2006. She succeeds term-limited Mike DeWine in January 2027. Republicans kept both legislative chambers, but Democrats broke the House supermajority, so a veto override now needs some Democratic votes. The Senate supermajority held.

Keisha Lance Bottoms, former Atlanta mayor, defeated Republican businessman Rick Jackson. Reuters, NBC, AP-based coverage, Bloomberg, and The Washington Post called it. Counts clustered around 54–55 percent for Bottoms (one Secretary of State-based tally: 2,185,174 to 1,825,809). She is the first Black woman elected governor of any U.S. state and the first Democrat elected Georgia governor since 2002. Democrats flipped the state House (past the 91-seat majority line) and won a 3–2 majority on the elected Public Service Commission. Republicans held the Senate by a narrow 29–27.

Data centers were not a side issue. Hinojosa’s campaign ads attacked Abbott for inviting the industry with tax breaks. Acton built a written “conditional moratorium” platform. Bottoms ran a late ad telling Fox viewers she would “stop data centers.”

Texas: Hinojosa’s ban-until-laws pledge runs into SB 6 and a Republican Senate

Hinojosa’s mechanism is a hard pause, then a statute. In an October 22 video she said that as governor she would “issue a moratorium — a ban — on all data center approvals until laws can be passed by the Legislature to protect Texans.” Her campaign list, published in July, is more specific than the slogan: a local “seat at the table”; a ban on developer NDAs; proof that households will not pay more for electricity or water, including transmission and new capacity; an end to subsidies; and water contracts that become unenforceable if they threaten a community’s supply. She has also said data centers should pay sales tax on the electricity they use, which she has described as costing the state more than $1 billion a year, and she has floated union-labor conditions. In a September interview she said she does not oppose data centers as such, only the lack of rules.

That agenda collides with a framework the 2025 Legislature already wrote. Senate Bill 6, signed June 21, 2025, treats loads of 75 MW or more as large loads. It requires a study fee of at least $100,000, officer-level disclosures, financial security before ERCOT studies a project, emergency curtailment (or dispatch of on-site backup) for loads interconnected after December 31, 2025, and Public Utility Commission rules by December 31, 2026 so wholesale transmission charges “appropriately assign costs.” The PUCT has already adopted interconnection and security standards; a separate proposal (Project No. 58000) would replace the four-coincident-peak transmission allocation with a 12-coincident-peak method and is expected to be considered by the end of 2026. A draft standard large-load contract the commission was set to take up around November 5 would lock in security equal to the greater of $50,000 per reserved megawatt or assigned upgrade costs, plus water-use and backup-generation disclosure.

The queue is the political fact underneath the law. ERCOT has described about 474 GW of large-load interconnection requests as of mid-2026, roughly five times the 91 GW record peak, with about 90 percent from data centers. Abbott already used agency letters to pause energization of new data-center and crypto loads of 75 MW or more (August 3) and to halt TCEQ data-center permits (September 21) until an ERCOT and water audit finishes, with reports expected in December. He also campaigned on ending the sales-tax break and making developers pay for their own infrastructure. The break itself is statutory: Tax Code §§ 151.359 and 151.3595 exempt equipment and, for certified projects, electricity, for 10 to 20 years depending on investment tier ($200 million / 20 jobs, or $500 million / 40 jobs / 20 MW). One industry analysis put the exemption’s cost near $3.2 billion over a two-year window, far above the program’s early years.

What this means for delivery: Hinojosa can extend or tighten the existing agency holds the way Abbott did, and she will appoint PUCT and TCEQ commissioners as terms expire (Senate confirmation required; at least two utility seats open in September 2027). A durable statewide ban, repeal of the sales-tax exemption, NDA prohibitions, and rewriting water-contract enforceability all need bills. With a Democratic House and a Republican Senate, cost-shifting rules that both Abbott and Hinojosa already endorsed are the plausible 2027 deal. A multi-year construction ban is not. Her 2023 vote for a failed bill that would have widened data-center exemptions is a record opponents will use if she tries to claim she always opposed the subsidy.

Ohio: Acton’s conditions mostly describe a tariff the PUCO already approved

Acton’s platform, posted July 22 and restated July 27, is a conditional moratorium, not a ban. Projects may proceed only if developers and investors cover 100 percent of gas, water, and electricity costs; invest in their own generation and prove the project will not raise prices or hurt regional reliability; build, maintain, and operate with union labor; drop NDAs; accept clawbacks on tax incentives; site on brownfields or previously industrial land rather than farms; and live by existing air and groundwater standards. She has also said she will appoint PUCO commissioners who “put ratepayers first” and restore funding to the Office of the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel. In an October Dispatch op-ed she asked the legislature to pass that conditional moratorium. She has not published a draft executive order.

Much of the ratepayer piece is already in force in the utility territory that matters most. On July 9, 2025, the PUCO adopted a settlement and ordered AEP Ohio to file Schedule DCT, effective July 23, 2025. New data-center load above 25 MW (affiliates aggregated) faces an 85 percent minimum-demand ratchet, collateral, exit fees, and long contract terms. The order lifted AEP’s own connection moratorium. Amazon, Google, and other developers asked the commission to undo it; the PUCO refused in September 2025. The case has been described as on appeal at the Ohio Supreme Court. Duke Energy Ohio filed a looser proposed Rate DC in July 2026 (minimum bills negotiated between 60 and 85 percent, collateral from 0 to 100 percent). Separately, Gov. Mike DeWine froze new applications under the data-center sales-tax exemption (R.C. 122.175, $100 million investment and $1.5 million payroll) and said on August 5, 2026, that the freeze would last until he leaves office in January 2027. Actual forgone revenue under that exemption was reported at about $1.57 billion for 2025, roughly eleven times the estimate. Local governments still commonly grant 75 percent property-tax abatements for 15 to 30 years; Canton approved three such deals the day after the election.

What this means for delivery: Acton does not need a new law to keep the sales-tax freeze if the Tax Credit Authority stays closed to new deals, and she can push the PUCO toward Duke-style tariffs that look more like AEP’s once she has commissioners. She will not have a working majority on the commission on day one; terms are staggered. A statutory conditional moratorium, a union-only mandate, and a brownfield-only siting rule need the Republican General Assembly. Losing the House supermajority gives her a real veto. It does not give her a bill. The pieces most likely to stick are the ones DeWine and the PUCO already started: no new sales-tax certificates, and minimum bills plus collateral so canceled projects do not strand transmission on other customers. The pieces least likely to stick in statute are exclusive union labor and a farmland ban.

Georgia: Bottoms’ pause is a study, and the PSC just changed hands

Bottoms’ pledge is the least specified of the three. She has repeatedly asked for a temporary statewide pause on new data-center construction so the state can measure grid strain, how much of the cost lands on consumers, long-term health effects, and water. In an October interview she said the pause could be one month, six months, or longer, and that the end state might be leaving decisions to counties or writing a different statewide rule. She has said she is not seeking a permanent halt, and she has noted that some rural officials want the tax base. A late campaign ad compressed this to “stop data centers.” As Atlanta mayor her administration backed financing and incentives for the smaller Coda project at Georgia Tech, which her critics have used to argue the stance is new.

The regulatory machinery is already pointed at cost-shifting, and voters just handed it to her party. On January 23, 2025, the PSC unanimously adopted a rule, effective February 1, 2025, under which new customers expecting 100 MW or more of peak demand may not take standard tariffs. They need customized contracts of up to 15 years (up from five), minimum bills, payment of site-specific costs plus upstream generation, transmission, and distribution as construction proceeds, and PSC review of each contract. In December 2025 the commission certified about 9,885 MW of new Georgia Power resources tied largely to this load, with a settlement that large-load revenue put at least $556 million a year of downward pressure on rates in 2029–2031, which the company equates to about $8.50 a month for a typical 1,000 kWh residential bill. In August 2026 the PSC approved Georgia Power’s contract for an OpenAI campus of about 3,200 MW in Effingham County, including the right to curtail up to 1,000 MW; the utility has projected roughly $950 million a year in incremental large-load revenue and customer savings on the order of $180 a year starting in 2029. Staff testimony has also warned that much of the pipeline is speculative: dozens of data-center projects and more than 11 GW of announced load have already dropped out since the 2023 IRP update.

The tax subsidy is separate from the PSC. O.C.G.A. § 48-8-3(68.1) exempts high-technology data-center equipment from state and local sales tax through December 31, 2031. A state audit estimated $474.2 million in forgone state tax revenue in fiscal 2025 and found that only about 30 percent of the activity was “but for” the exemption. Bills to advance the sunset, close it to new projects, or suspend new certificates (including SB 408, SB 410, and SB 436) were introduced in the 2025–26 session and did not become law. Democrats now have a 3–2 PSC majority (Peter Hubbard reelected; Shelia Edwards flipped an open seat) and a House majority. Republicans hold the Senate 29–27, exactly the constitutional majority needed to pass a bill.

What this means for delivery: Bottoms cannot, by herself, order counties to stop issuing building permits or rewrite Georgia Power’s tariff. A statutory construction pause needs the Senate. What she can get without that vote is a PSC that scrutinizes the next capacity request (Georgia Power has already solicited 2,000 to 6,000 MW for 2032–33) and the next rate case, and that treats the $8.50 residential credit and minimum-bill rules as a floor rather than a ceiling. A time-limited study commission is an easy bipartisan product. A hard stop on projects that already have executed large-load contracts is not. Her own refusal to name exit conditions makes the pledge easy to declare fulfilled after a short review.

How likely the promises are, side by side

Pledge	Texas (Hinojosa)	Ohio (Acton)	Georgia (Bottoms)
Tax incentives	End sales-tax exemption on equipment and power. Needs a bill. Senate is Republican. Abbott already campaigned on ending it, so a partial repeal is plausible.	Keep DeWine’s freeze on new R.C. 122.175 certificates; add clawbacks. Freeze can continue administratively. Repeal or clawbacks need the GOP legislature. Local property abatements are mostly local.	Did not pledge repeal. Exemption runs to 2031. Bipartisan sunset bills already exist. House flip makes a nearer sunset more likely than a ban.
Ratepayer protection	Households must not pay for upgrades or new capacity. SB 6 and the pending transmission-cost rule already aim at this. Extending the audit hold is the near-term tool.	“100 percent of utility costs” plus own generation. AEP’s 85 percent minimum bill and collateral already do a large share of this in central Ohio. PUCO appointments are the lever, not an instant rewrite.	Study who pays. PSC rule since Feb. 2025 already requires 100 MW+ customers to pay upstream costs under reviewed contracts. New 3–2 Democratic PSC can tighten the next rate case.
Grid interconnection	Ban approvals until the Legislature acts. Abbott’s ERCOT energization pause and TCEQ permit hold are the precedent she can extend. Rewriting the 75 MW SB 6 process needs a statute.	Prove no price or reliability harm; bring own generation. PJM and utility tariffs, not the governor, interconnect the load. A statutory pause is unlikely.	Pause new construction for an undefined study period. Does not control interconnection directly. Executed contracts (OpenAI and others) are hard to unwind.
Water	Contracts unenforceable if they threaten supply; local veto-like voice. TWDB reporting was ordered in September 2026. A legal priority for community supply over a private contract needs legislation or a successful agency rule that will be litigated.	Cover water costs; do not relax groundwater standards. No new numeric cap published.	Wants a study of long-term supply impact. No proposed standard yet.
Large-load tariff	Inherit SB 6 (75 MW, security, curtailment, cost allocation by end of 2026).	Inherit AEP DCT (25 MW, ~85 percent minimum bill). Can press Duke and others toward the same shape via PUCO.	Inherit 100 MW custom-contract rule, 15-year terms, minimum bills, PSC review of each deal.

Likelihood, ranked by what can happen in 2027 without a friendly Senate:

• Most likely: tighter large-load tariffs and continued refusal to socialize new transmission and generation. All three states already moved this direction under Republican governors or commissions in 2025–26. New Democratic appointees and, in Georgia, an elected Democratic PSC majority make that direction stickier, not new.
• Moderately likely: no new state sales-tax certificates. Ohio’s freeze is already in place through January 2027 and is easy to extend. Texas and Georgia repeals or sunsets need bills, but ending the break is no longer a purely Democratic position in either state.
• Least likely as pledged: open-ended construction moratoriums, exclusive union labor, brownfield-only siting, and water-contract nullification. Those require statutes the Republican Senates in Texas and Ohio, and the one-vote Republican Senate in Georgia, have little reason to pass in full. Developers should treat “moratorium” as a negotiating clock and a local-permitting risk, not as a self-executing ban.

What changes for anyone trying to build or compete

The election did not create the large-load rules. It changed who will administer rules that already force data centers to post security, sign long minimum bills, and, in Texas, accept emergency curtailment. The new risk is duration and stacking: a governor who keeps an audit hold in place while a Democratic House writes a stricter bill, plus a PSC that treats residential bill credits as a political deliverable.

In Texas, the practical gate is still ERCOT energization and TCEQ permits, both already paused. A project that has not cleared Batch Zero should assume the pause survives the gubernatorial transition and that the December 31, 2026 transmission-cost rulemaking will assign more of the upgrade to the load. The sales-tax exemption is the bargaining chip most likely to be traded in the 2027 session, not the 75 MW threshold itself.

In Ohio, the binding constraint in AEP territory is already Schedule DCT, not Acton’s press release. The new constraint is whether she keeps the sales-tax window closed and whether PUCO applies AEP-like collateral to Duke and the co-ops. Projects that bring generation and sign the minimum bill will still get served. Projects that want the old exemption, farmland sites, and non-union builds should assume delay, not prohibition.

In Georgia, the binding constraint is the PSC contract review and the next capacity certification, now under a 3–2 Democratic commission, not a gubernatorial construction ban that has no stated end test. Contracts already filed and approved, including the OpenAI arrangement with curtailment rights, are the wrong place to look for a sudden stop. The right place is the 2032–33 RFP and any attempt to extend the equipment exemption past 2031.

Across all three states, the campaign promise that is most operational is the same one regulators had already started writing: the load pays for the wires and the plants, or it waits. The promise that is least operational is the one that sounds like a ban.

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Recent Findings Supplement (November 2026)

Democratic candidates Gina Hinojosa (Texas), Amy Acton (Ohio), and Keisha Lance Bottoms (Georgia) won their states’ 2026 gubernatorial races on November 3, 2026, flipping all three from Republican control.[1][2][3]

Hinojosa defeated incumbent Greg Abbott, Acton defeated Vivek Ramaswamy, and Bottoms defeated Rick Jackson. These results, reported in the immediate aftermath, represent the core new development on data center policy, as the candidates centered opposition to unchecked growth during campaigns and reiterated pledges post-election. No post-election actions by the governors-elect have occurred yet (they take office in January 2027).

Hinojosa pledged an immediate statewide moratorium on new data center approvals in Texas until the legislature enacts stronger protections, going beyond Abbott’s 2026 pauses.[4][5]

She criticized Abbott’s August 2026 grid-connection audit pause (via ERCOT) and September 2026 environmental/air permit holds (via TCEQ and water board) as insufficient election-year moves, vowing a formal ban until laws address community consent, water/electricity rate protections, tax incentives, union labor, and transparency (e.g., banning NDAs).[6][7]

• Hinojosa specifically targets ending sales tax exemptions (estimated >$1B annual cost) and ensuring data centers pay their full costs without raising residential rates.[8]
• ERCOT’s queue stood at ~474 GW in large-load requests (~90% data centers, over 5x peak demand); SB 6 (2025) already mandates study fees, disclosures, curtailment options, and cost-allocation rules (PUCT implementation by Dec. 31, 2026), with Abbott’s audit report due Dec. 10, 2026.[9]
• She takes office with a Democrat-controlled House and can influence PUCT appointments, but major changes (e.g., repealing incentives or codifying a moratorium) require legislation.

This shifts Texas from a pro-growth stance (Abbott previously called it the “epicenter of AI”) toward conditional or paused development, putting significant planned capacity at risk of delay or redesign.

Acton campaigned on a conditional moratorium in Ohio, allowing projects only if they meet strict criteria on costs, labor, siting, and transparency.[4][10]

Data centers were a central issue for lowering family costs and holding operators accountable. Her platform requires developers to cover all utility costs (gas, water, electricity) without ratepayer impacts, use union labor for construction/operations/maintenance, avoid NDAs, site on brownfields rather than farmland, meet environmental standards, and provide community benefits.[11]

• She called for legislative action on the conditional freeze and criticized opponents for ties to the industry.
• PUCO oversees utilities; multiple local Ohio ballot measures (including bans or voter-approval requirements in several municipalities) passed on election night, amplifying pressure.[12]

This approach favors “responsible” projects that internalize costs rather than a blanket pause, but implementation depends on PUCO rules, legislation, and local actions.

Bottoms proposed a temporary statewide pause (potentially 1–6+ months or longer) on new Georgia data center construction to study impacts before deciding on rules or local control.[13][14]

She highlighted concerns over grid strain, rising utility bills for ratepayers, water supplies, environment, and public health, noting Georgia (especially Atlanta metro) had become the top U.S. construction hub with ~2.9 GW underway (per CBRE). Her opponent favored leaving decisions to localities.[15]

• Democrats also flipped the Georgia PSC to a majority and appear positioned to influence the House, strengthening oversight of Georgia Power agreements.
• The pause would allow time for data collection on costs and impacts, potentially leading to new standards or scaled-back development.

Likelihood of pledges being carried out varies by state due to legislative control, existing frameworks (ERCOT/SB 6 in Texas, PUCO in Ohio, Georgia PSC), and executive tools, with high uncertainty for near-term projects.[15]

Hinojosa’s moratorium can start via executive order but needs legislation for durability; her party’s House edge helps, though the Senate may resist. Acton’s conditions align with PUCO authority and local momentum but face potential legislative pushback. Bottoms’ pause is more flexible (shorter duration, assessment-focused) and benefits from PSC shifts. Overall, these outcomes signal a national backlash, exposing tens of GW of planned U.S. capacity (estimates range 20–41% in affected states) to delays, higher costs, or redesign, though none proposed outright permanent bans.[16]

Developers may accelerate existing under-construction projects or shift to states with fewer restrictions, while utilities and hyperscalers face higher scrutiny on cost allocation and transparency. Further developments will likely emerge in late 2026 audits/reports and 2027 legislative sessions.