More than 15 candidates running for federal and state office have signed the AI Pact, a five-plank pledge committing them to regulate data centers and back mandatory safety reviews for AI models. The pact, an offshoot of the Political Integrity Project, launched into a midterm cycle where data center siting has become a live campaign issue in states from Nebraska to Michigan to Texas. Signers include Nebraska independent Senate candidate Dan Osborn, Tennessee Representative Justin Pearson, Michigan primary winner Will Lawrence, and Texas state representative Gina Hinojosa, who is challenging Governor Greg Abbott.
Osborn, a Navy veteran and labor leader running against Republican incumbent Pete Ricketts, said the data center question is bridging partisan lines at his town halls. He described a recent exchange with a self-described MAGA voter who arrived at a fourth town hall last Sunday hostile on most issues.
The five promises in the pact go beyond a siting fight. Signers commit to advocating for mandatory AI safety reviews, supporting an AI dividend for workers, and backing legislation that would let consumers and companies sue over harms caused by models. On infrastructure, the pact stops short of calling for a moratorium and instead asks candidates to back policies that would ban tax breaks, backroom deals, and excessive energy usage for data centers.
Key facts
- 01More than 15 candidates for federal and state office have signed the AI Pact, a five-plank pledge on data centers and AI regulation.
- 02The pact calls for mandatory safety reviews for AI models, an AI worker dividend, and a right to sue over model harms.
- 03Signers include Nebraska independent Senate candidate Dan Osborn, Tennessee Rep. Justin Pearson, and Texas gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa.
- 04Texas Governor Greg Abbott imposed a temporary moratorium on new data center construction in August 2026.
- 05Senator Bernie Sanders proposed a national data center construction moratorium in March 2026 tied to AI safety legislation.
Daniel Lobo-Lewis, one of the pact's founders, said the language was calibrated deliberately as a floor for candidates to sign on to, particularly those with union support. Several labor unions have recently reaffirmed backing for data center construction, complicating outright opposition for Democrats in swing districts. Funding comes from a progressive political action committee, Lobo-Lewis said, with no AI safety groups or tech companies contributing directly.
Alexander McCoy, a progressive strategist working on AI issues, framed the trade-off candidates are trying to navigate.
Osborn's position tracks that tension. He acknowledged data centers can bring a lot of infrastructure and a lot of jobs, but told Wired that Congress needs to step in, and that calling a time-out right now doesn't seem like a horrible thing. He is campaigning in rural areas where farmers are worried about losing land to development.
Governors from both parties have moved in the same direction in recent weeks. Pennsylvania Democrat Josh Shapiro has taken steps to reassure voters on data center oversight, and Texas Republican Greg Abbott, who said data centers have dug their own grave in his state, initiated a temporary moratorium on new construction this month. Earlier this week, Texas attorney general Ken Paxton, running for Senate as a Republican, released a data center plan that would make operators legally liable for chatbots that undermine children's safety.
Hinojosa, Abbott's Democratic opponent and a pact signer, has attacked the governor's moratorium as insufficient to guarantee that the people will be protected.
“These data centers are supporting an AI industry that has no rules. It threatens our jobs, livelihood, health, safety, and well-being. As AI develops this fast, we need basic ground rules—we need laws to protect Texans.”— Gina Hinojosa, Texas state representative and gubernatorial candidate
Some of the pact's other planks overlap with policies the White House is already exploring, at least in voluntary form. The administration is developing a voluntary safety review for AI models, and Trump has met with AI executives, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, on the idea of a worker dividend tied to AI profits. The White House has also encouraged AI companies, governors, and utilities to sign a voluntary pledge shielding ratepayers from electricity increases driven by data center demand.
Lobo-Lewis dismissed those efforts as lip service, saying he could not imagine the Trump administration would actually want to do mandatory safety reviews for models, or end nationwide tax breaks for data center construction. Trump has been consistent in the other direction, saying recently that if he were a mayor or governor, he would absolutely want a big AI plant or data center in his jurisdiction.
Senator Bernie Sanders became one of the first federal officials to explicitly link AI safety to data center policy when he proposed a national construction moratorium in March 2026, tied to Congress passing AI safeguard legislation. Polling still suggests environmental worries about data centers outrank AI-specific concerns among the general public, which is why the pact's framing leans on energy use, tax breaks, and secrecy rather than model risk alone.
The pact matters less as a binding document and more as a coordination mechanism. It gives candidates in swing districts a pre-vetted position that neither embraces a full moratorium nor cedes the issue to industry, and it lets AI safety advocates translate a diffuse voter mood into concrete legislative asks — model safety reviews, a private right of action, an end to data center tax abatements. For AI companies and hyperscalers spending tens of billions on new capacity, the political ground under the buildout is shifting from permitting fights to a broader debate about liability, labor, and how the upside gets distributed.
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