The data center industry is spending money on elections for the first time. The first candidate it chose to help is Darline Graham.
A new super PAC called Building the Future has reserved $1.5 million in advertising this month to keep Graham in the Senate seat she was appointed to after her brother, Lindsey Graham, died this summer, the New York Times reported on Monday.
The Times said it is most likely "the tip of the iceberg" for a group aiming to have more influence in 2028 and beyond.
Why her
Graham is in an unexpectedly tight race with Democrat Dr. Annie Andrews. On data centers, the two couldn't be further apart.
Andrews has called for a two-year pause on new data center projects. Graham has opposed moratoriums, arguing that halting construction would hand China an advantage in artificial intelligence. She frames the buildout as a national security priority, and has also expressed support for local control.
That's the position the industry is paying to protect. The group's spokesman, Jesse Hunt, told the Times that candidates who "make the case that A.I. infrastructure investment will bring good-paying jobs" and new revenue — while "putting responsible protections in place and earning local support" — "will win races," and that "Building the Future will be there to help tell that story."
Ads that hide the reason
Here's the strange part. Building the Future has started airing two ads for Graham. Neither one mentions data centers.
Instead, they highlight her work running a state agency for blind South Carolinians, according to the Times.
An industry spending $1.5 million to elect a senator because of where she stands on its business — and then leaving its business out of the ads — tells you what it thinks voters would say if they knew. Polling shows wide numbers of Americans are uncomfortable with data center construction, the Times reported.
And voters can't see who's paying. Building the Future has not disclosed a single donor. It was created by the operatives behind Leading the Future, a pro-AI super PAC that has already spent tens of millions on candidates.
Since it started running ads on October 17, Building the Future has been the second-largest pro-Graham advertiser in the state, according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact. Graham herself has fallen far behind Andrews in fundraising.
Her own party saw this coming
The super PAC launched less than two weeks after the National Republican Senatorial Committee, in the Times' words, practically begged the industry to defend Republicans in the midterms. That memo singled out Ohio's Jon Husted and warned that the "toxic" data center industry "will be blamed" if he loses — we wrote about how it called Husted's data center record an 'anchor.'
So the party knows the industry is unpopular. Its answer was to ask the industry to spend — and the industry's first ads keep its name off the screen.
What South Carolinians see
In Spartanburg County, a huge data center is under construction. One local Republican volunteer told the Times, "They're here to stay, and frankly, we need them." A self-described "hard-core Republican" told the paper she'll vote for Andrews next week, partly because of Graham's position on data centers.
Outside money is doing a lot of work for a first-time politician who was appointed to this seat. Along with the seat, she inherited her brother's leadership PAC.
What we know
Building the Future, a new super PAC aligned with the data center industry, chose Darline Graham as its first candidate and reserved $1.5 million in ads to help her win a full Senate term. Graham has opposed moratoriums on new data centers; her opponent wants a two-year moratorium. The PAC's two ads for Graham don't mention data centers, and it has not disclosed any of its donors.
