Backlash to data centers prompts political upset in northern Virginia

By MATTHEW BARAKAT
Associated Press

FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) — The tech industry’s drive to dot the Virginia landscape with data centers may have hit a snag this week in Prince William County. Residents of the state’s second most populous jurisdiction supplied perhaps the biggest upset in Tuesday’s primary elections. Deshundra Jefferson, a political newcomer, knocked off the county’s top elected official, Board of Supervisors Chair Ann Wheeler. Opposition to data centers fueled Jefferson’s victory. Wheeler had been part of a majority that approved a huge data center project that had drawn intense community opposition. Wheeler’s defeat comes as Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin recently announced a $35 billion partnership with Amazon to expand data centers statewide.