Data facilities have fast become the political bogeyman of 2026, with practically every candidate looking for to outfox their opponent in attacks on “Big Tech” and “dirty data centers.” In a September ballot, practically 6 in 10 registered voters in Nevada said they oppose the construction of new knowledge facilities.
Not everybody in the state hates them, though: Electrical and construction unions that benefit from knowledge middle tasks say the services can be a power for good in Nevada — and they’re figuring out how they can show it to everybody else.
“There is not a one-size-fits-all situation for how to move forward with this, but there are so many possibilities of how to do that and still check all the boxes of ensuring that ratepayers are protected, that we are good stewards of the earth,” said Ronald Young, the political director for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 357 in Southern Nevada.
Some unions see it otherwise. A few view knowledge facilities as threatening their members, doing more to fuel automation via artificial intelligence (AI) than to energy Nevada’s financial system. Advocates for construction counter that while AI acceleration is scary, it’s inevitable, making it pointless for Nevada to move up on financial alternatives that would circulation elsewhere. It’s led to nuanced discussions as unions representing 1000’s of employees attempt to navigate the best method on younger, fast-moving applied sciences driving demand for new knowledge facilities.
As 2027’s legislative session approaches, unions that work on knowledge middle tasks say guardrails on their use of water and vitality are essential but that an all-out moratorium could price Nevada.
“Everything’s so expensive, and I think if we can turn this into something where locals are getting good-paying jobs, good-paying union jobs, that’s a win on top of everything else, right?” Young said. “But it’s got to be done smart.”
Todd Vachon, a professor at Rutgers University who research labor actions, said he believes considerations about AI will cause a break up among organized labor nationwide.
“It creates this friction within labor itself,” Vachon said, between the primarily blue-collar teams that assemble the facilities and the white-collar teams who really feel threatened by them. “The data centers are actually going to undermine the livelihoods of the white-collar workers if AI advances rapidly and actually does start replacing professional jobs and administrative work, clerical work, writers, creative people, artists.”
Fears of automation are not theoretical in Nevada, where some service-based employees in casinos and hospitals view AI as an existential risk. In August, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) came to Las Vegas for a roundtable titled Workers over Machines, where he, Rep. Steven Horsford (D-NV) and leaders from trucking, hospitality and other industries mentioned how to defend employees without being enemies to growth.
Leaders from a vary of totally different unions emphasised in conversations with The Nevada Independent that questions over knowledge facilities aren’t yet inflicting main fissures in Nevada’s labor group, but there are some disagreements.
Brian Lenihan, a steward with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1107 and an engineer with Clark County, said he is pro-innovation but is skeptical of rampant knowledge middle construction, particularly in Southern Nevada.
He said he distinguishes between knowledge facilities that energy the web and “the superpower, water-intensive, noisy, horrific data centers that people don’t like.”
Kenneth Gillingham, an vitality professor at Yale, advised The Indy there are variations between conventional knowledge facilities that have been around for a long time and knowledge facilities that are now being constructed to energy AI. The latter have better computational calls for, said Gillingham, and therefore require more ground space, more energy and more water.
Lenihan also said he would not discover electrical unions’ arguments about financial advantages very compelling, arguing those teams could get jobs elsewhere.
“Instead of saying we want data centers, what if they said we are going to do a tax cut for everyone to get solar?” he requested. “How much more money do you think IBEW could get from having more electricians wiring up solar facilities?”
The electrical unions’ view
Electrical unions know knowledge facilities will be one of the greatest ticket gadgets in the 2027 Legislature, and they say they need more rules, too.
“I don’t think the concern is misplaced entirely. … We are in a spot in time where we can either do great things or we could totally screw it up,” said Young, including he disagreed with both those calling for an all-out moratorium and those calling for no rules. “You need to have some kind of guardrails, because it affects everybody.”
Jacob Haas, business supervisor at IBEW Local 401 in Northern Nevada, advised The Indy he believes knowledge facilities should have rules comparable to those governing “any other building.”
That means making certain knowledge facilities pay for their own energy and do not move vitality price hikes onto shoppers, he said. And it means making certain all services use closed-loop cooling systems, a far less water-intensive method that Southern Nevada has already required of new knowledge facilities since 2023.
But Haas and Young also emphasised the advantages of knowledge facilities when constructed responsibly.
“If data centers weren’t here right now, I think Nevada would be in a huge recession,” said Haas, including that roughly 3,000 of his employees are presently staffed on knowledge middle tasks. He also said the upkeep and repairs of the facilities is so labor-intensive that employees return to the services always, making certain jobs aren’t just short-term.
According to the online tracker Data Center Map, there are 76 knowledge facilities constructed or deliberate in Nevada.
Electrical union representatives said voters are unfairly punishing knowledge facilities for their fears over AI. Polling signifies Americans’ high considerations about knowledge facilities relate to water and vitality, but many also fear about the facilities enabling artificial intelligence. In a September 2026 ballot by The New York Times, practically one-fifth of respondents cited “general distrust/dislike of AI” as the important purpose they opposed more knowledge middle construction.
Imposing a moratorium on construction “doesn’t get rid of AI,” said Young. “AI is here and it gets integrated into more and more things by the day. How AI can be implemented in Nevada … how worker protections can be made around AI — that is its own issue compared to the development of data centers, because of the fact that data centers touch so much more than just AI.”
Experts say the fact is more difficult. “The vast majority of the demand for new data centers is driven by AI,” wrote Gillingham, the Yale professor, although he added that a knowledge middle moratorium would not stop AI development in a single day.
Young emphasised that he sympathizes with people’s fears about AI, which stem from “these big corporations that are very openly talking about the reduction of labor. … Regular people, we’re scared, right? We don’t know what’s going to happen, and things are moving so fast. So I think people are looking for some reassurance that they’re not going to be left behind.”
Young also said he would not need a “gutting” of the state’s tax abatement program for knowledge facilities, although he’s open to modifications. Lombardo signed an government order this month curbing the abatements, requiring knowledge middle corporations to pay taxes they were beforehand exempt from. Ford called Lombardo’s order “weak” and says that if elected, he will pause all abatements until the state can conduct an audit on their effectiveness.
Data middle advocates aren’t in denial about the services’ unpopularity.
In June, a group called the Data Center Alliance launched, led by Tray Abney, a longtime Nevada political strategist and lobbyist. It contains IBEW 401, Haas’ union, along with other labor teams, knowledge middle builders and other stakeholders.
The alliance’s main purpose presently is educating people and politicians on knowledge facilities and serving to the industry in “telling their story,” said Abney. He and Haas said many Americans are unaware that knowledge facilities have powered online actions for years, from Facebook to banking, all of which predates AI.
“It’s not just ancillary, like, cherry-on-top nice-to-haves,” said Abney. “These are basic, core building blocks of our modern life and economy.”
Workers set up photo voltaic panels close to Boulder City on June 11, 2021. (Daniel Clark/The Nevada Independent)
Other unions’ views
Unions nationwide are making an attempt to discover the proper method, with some arguing knowledge facilities are complicit in job loss while others say they view knowledge middle coverage as distinct from AI coverage.
The Nevada AFL-CIO, whose coalition of more than 120 unions contains construction and electrical employees, handed a resolution on knowledge facilities at its August conference. Submitted by IBEW 357, the decision supports knowledge facilities in common but calls for protections around water and vitality provides, and says corporations must be clear and communicative with the public.
The AFL-CIO “supports responsible data center development” and “tax incentives when they are tied to measurable public benefits … and strong labor standards,” wrote Susie Martinez, the union’s government secretary-treasurer, in a textual content message to The Indy. The union decision did not reference AI or automation.
A handful of unions under the AFL-CIO umbrella have used more oppositional language, pushing for knowledge middle rules in half due to their need to gradual down AI.
National Nurses United, which represents practically 3,000 nurses in Nevada, supports a federal moratorium on knowledge facilities. The union’s reality sheet on knowledge facilities lambasts “Big Tech” and says the moratorium “would enact a pause on A.I. development.”
And at a current assembly where the Reno City Council gathered public enter on a proposed knowledge middle moratorium, a number of audio system said they had labored on knowledge middle tasks beforehand yet still supported a pause — citing environmental and AI considerations.
But not all unions frightened about automation view crackdowns on knowledge facilities as the answer.
Jason Gateley is secretary-treasurer for Teamsters Local 14, which represents Southern Nevada truck drivers. His union backed a invoice in 2025 that would have banned absolutely autonomous vans in Nevada for the next decade. When it died, Teamsters accused Assm. Howard Watts (D-Las Vegas) of killing it and backed a profitable main problem against him.
Gateley would not think AI can be stopped, but he needs “responsible growth” rather than “reckless growth.” He said this means discovering methods to defend jobs and utilizing AI to make jobs safer. And, like the electrical unions, he sees knowledge facilities as separate from AI considerations.
“As long as the data centers are union-built and they create good jobs, I don’t have a problem with that. And after they’re built, they should be forced to be good corporate citizens and pay their fair share of taxes,” said Gateley.
Despite variations in opinion, though, unions said disagreements on regulation have not yet become tense.
“There really hasn’t been a ton of backlash between any of the unions,” said Haas. Ted Pappageorge, secretary-treasurer of the Culinary Union Workers Local 226, wrote in a assertion that Culinary was trying ahead to a “healthy debate” over knowledge facilities in next yr’s legislative session.
“There needs to be AI regulation,” added Haas, calling it a job for the federal authorities. “But that’s not a data center. A data center is something that stores information. And if we don’t build these, it’s going to be China and Russia, and all our information is going to be stored over there.”