ALLENTOWN, Pa.—In all her 38 years living in South Whitehall Township in the Lehigh Valley, Laurie Gilley had never attended a municipal meeting, much less gotten involved in the politics of her community. But then she learned that a data center was being planned for 400 acres of land across from her home and the local high school.
Now, Gilley, who helped form the South Whitehall Township Civic Alliance to fight the center, is at the vanguard of an informal political movement experts say could impact the midterm congressional elections, especially in tight races like the one in her district, where incumbent U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, a Republican narrowly elected in 2024, is now facing Democrat Bob Brooks, a retired firefighter.
Gilley said she has been energized by the unified resistance to data centers. “Both sides of the aisle seem to come together on this,” said Gilley, 61, who runs Madeline’s Fairgrounds Marketplace at the popular farmers market here, where the chatter these days in her baked goods and sandwich shop often turns to data centers and politics. “Everywhere I go, we’re talking about it.”
Opposition to data centers—especially in places where they are proposed near residential neighborhoods or close to environmentally sensitive land or water—has been intense in Pennsylvania. Residents worry about property values, rising utility bills, the impact on the water and power supply, the loss of the state’s rural character and environment and even whether artificial intelligence is a good idea at all. And the voices are coming from both parties…