A QPQ Tracker study · 16 states and Washington, 2023–2026
State capitals and utility commission dockets decided the data center boom: who builds the power plants, who pays for the wires, whether the sales tax applies. This page walks the record in order. It starts with the companies that paid, then the politicians they paid, then the measures those politicians voted on or signed, and what each decision did. Every figure is recomputed from the loaded filings. Every name links to the evidence.
Dominion gave about $33.8M to Virginia candidates and committees from 2023 to October 2026, including $2.89M to the Speaker's campaign and leadership PAC. Georgia's commission then certified about 10 GW for data centers. In Louisiana, an Entergy executive wrote the motion a commissioner adopted to approve 2,200 MW of gas plants for Meta.
Read the section →It moves through trade group PACs, inaugural committees, caucus committees, charitable community funds and landowners. Federally it is super PAC money. Leading the Future took in $75.8M and spent $8.16M to defeat the author of New York's AI safety law. Anthropic put $40M into the opposing network.
Read the section →Sales-tax exemptions survived everywhere they were challenged: Virginia, Georgia, Ohio, Texas. Gas plants were certified on data center demand in Georgia, Louisiana and Virginia. Cost allocation went to commission dockets, not statute. In Washington, state-law preemption failed twice in Congress and moved to an executive order and DOJ litigation. The reversals have come from voters and courts.
Read the section →The payer of record is usually the utility that will sell the power. The companies whose names are on the buildings give comparatively little. Each card groups one company's direct giving from its treasury and employee PAC, as filed in the 16 states.
| Payer | Class | Direct giving | Contributions | States |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dominion Energy | Utility | $33,720,558 | 997 | VA |
| PG&E | Utility | $30,405,660 | 667 | CA |
| Hyperscaler | $16,547,019 | 797 | CA, GA, IL, MI, OR, PA, TN, TX, VA | |
| Meta | Hyperscaler | $13,686,730 | 254 | CA, IL, LA, TX, VA |
| Edison International | Utility | $12,351,720 | 567 | CA |
| Sempra | Utility | $10,101,786 | 903 | CA |
| Amazon | Hyperscaler | $7,518,657 | 1,857 | CA, GA, IL, OR, TN, TX, VA |
| Ameren | Utility | $2,167,667 | 817 | IL |
| Southern Company / Georgia Power | Utility | $2,059,053 | 581 | GA |
| Energy Transfer | Trade group, developer, pipeline or investor | $1,491,912 | 119 | TX |
| CenterPoint Energy | Utility | $1,475,816 | 444 | IN, TX |
| Oncor | Utility | $1,274,900 | 397 | TX |
| Vistra | Utility | $1,247,600 | 460 | IL, TX |
| APS / Pinnacle West | Utility | $1,104,297 | 491 | AZ |
| DTE Energy | Utility | $1,084,100 | 712 | MI |
| Duke Energy | Utility | $1,057,500 | 419 | IN, NC |
| Exelon (ComEd, PECO) | Utility | $836,942 | 673 | IL, PA |
| CMS / Consumers Energy | Utility | $792,480 | 684 | MI |
| NRG Energy | Utility | $790,622 | 368 | IL, TX |
| Entergy | Utility | $647,473 | 482 | LA |
| Portland General Electric | Utility | $583,250 | 241 | OR |
| AEP | Utility | $561,824 | 313 | IN, MI, OH, TX |
| Cozen O'Connor | Trade group, developer, pipeline or investor | $555,943 | 328 | PA |
| Constellation Energy | Utility | $552,305 | 176 | IL, PA |
| Black Mountain Power | Trade group, developer, pipeline or investor | $520,000 | 3 | TX |
| Cleco | Utility | $448,670 | 163 | LA |
| Troutman Pepper Locke | Trade group, developer, pipeline or investor | $441,004 | 241 | GA |
| PacifiCorp | Utility | $435,500 | 71 | OR |
| Data Center Coalition | Trade group, developer, pipeline or investor | $397,500 | 103 | VA |
| NiSource / NIPSCO | Utility | $310,500 | 184 | IN, PA |
| Salt River Project | Utility | $305,750 | 240 | AZ |
| El Paso Electric | Utility | $289,015 | 44 | TX |
| WEC Energy Group | Utility | $277,925 | 160 | WI |
| CloudHQ | Data center operator | $260,500 | 53 | VA |
| Alliant Energy | Utility | $243,500 | 169 | WI |
| Switch | Data center operator | $231,500 | 11 | GA |
| Microsoft | Hyperscaler | $218,150 | 87 | CA, IL, OR, PA |
| ITC Holdings | Utility | $207,450 | 260 | MI |
| PPL | Utility | $201,550 | 156 | PA |
| MidAmerican Energy | Utility | $147,771 | 79 | IL |
| Gas South | Utility | $137,750 | 145 | GA |
| Georgia Utility Contractors Association | Trade group, developer, pipeline or investor | $132,680 | 11 | GA |
| Oracle | Hyperscaler | $110,800 | 22 | AZ, CA, IL |
| Xcel Energy | Utility | $94,275 | 137 | MN |
| Vantage Data Centers | Data center operator | $92,250 | 126 | VA |
| Crow Holdings | Data center operator | $60,000 | 2 | TX |
| Great River Energy | Utility | $47,950 | 71 | MN |
| ALLETE (Minnesota Power) | Utility | $37,350 | 43 | MN |
| Skybox Datacenters | Data center operator | $31,000 | 3 | TX |
| Umatilla Electric Cooperative | Utility | $24,052 | 8 | OR |
| Bernhard Capital Partners | Trade group, developer, pipeline or investor | $17,500 | 4 | LA |
| Regulators Roundtable PAC | Trade group, developer, pipeline or investor | $16,800 | 2 | GA |
| 3E, LLC | Trade group, developer, pipeline or investor | $16,800 | 2 | GA |
| Otter Tail Power | Utility | $10,750 | 32 | MN |
| Lifeline Data Centers | Data center operator | $5,000 | 1 | IN |
| Burns & McDonnell | Trade group, developer, pipeline or investor | $2,500 | 1 | LA |
| Kiewit | Trade group, developer, pipeline or investor | $1,000 | 1 | LA |
| Digital Realty | Data center operator | $985 | 2 | IL |
| QTS Data Centers | Data center operator | $732 | 2 | IL |
| Tesla | Hyperscaler | $240 | 2 | TN |
| Walbridge | Trade group, developer, pipeline or investor | $50 | 1 | MI |
The officeholders and candidates who received the most from the payer set, and what each did on the data center measures: the votes they cast, the bills they authored, the orders they signed or commented on. A yea is a vote for the measure as titled. That may be for or against the industry's ask. The measure's status says what happened to it.
No recorded vote or action on a tracked measure.
No recorded vote or action on a tracked measure.
| # | Name | State | Office | From the payer set | Largest payer | Votes / actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 | Don Harmon (Illinois) | IL | State Senator, District 39 | $303,850 | Ameren $105K | 1 / 0 |
| 26 | Barry D. Knight | VA | Member of the Virginia General Assembly (House of Delegates) | $296,083 | Dominion Energy $288K | 11 / 0 |
| 27 | Winsome Earle-Sears | VA | Candidate for Governor | $285,272 | Dominion Energy $260K | 0 / 0 |
| 28 | Hala Ayala (Virginia candidate) | VA | Virginia candidate for Senate (Democrat) | $285,000 | Dominion Energy $285K | 0 / 0 |
| 29 | Emanuel "Chris" Welch | IL | State Representative, District 7 | $282,600 | Ameren $109K | 1 / 0 |
| 30 | Chris S. Runion | VA | Member of the Virginia General Assembly (House of Delegates) | $279,000 | Dominion Energy $270K | 28 / 0 |
| 31 | J.D. "Danny" Diggs | VA | Member of the Virginia General Assembly (Senate) | $279,000 | Dominion Energy $275K | 50 / 0 |
| 32 | George Barker (Virginia candidate) | VA | Virginia candidate for Senate (Democrat) | $275,000 | Dominion Energy $275K | 0 / 0 |
| 33 | Mark D. Obenshain | VA | Member of the Virginia General Assembly (Senate) | $273,851 | Dominion Energy $251K | 50 / 0 |
| 34 | Bryce E. Reeves | VA | Member of the Virginia General Assembly (Senate) | $269,000 | Dominion Energy $260K | 50 / 0 |
| 35 | Terry L. Austin | VA | Member of the Virginia General Assembly (House of Delegates) | $252,500 | Dominion Energy $240K | 28 / 0 |
| 36 | Richard H. Stuart | VA | Member of the Virginia General Assembly (Senate) | $250,000 | Dominion Energy $250K | 50 / 0 |
| 37 | Glen H. Sturtevant, Jr. | VA | Member of the Virginia General Assembly (Senate) | $245,000 | Dominion Energy $240K | 50 / 0 |
| 38 | Scott A. Wyatt | VA | Member of the Virginia General Assembly (House of Delegates) | $232,750 | Dominion Energy $225K | 28 / 0 |
| 39 | Tara A. Durant | VA | Member of the Virginia General Assembly (Senate) | $232,000 | Dominion Energy $225K | 50 / 0 |
| 40 | Lionell Spruill Sr. | VA | Candidate for Senate | $225,000 | Dominion Energy $225K | 0 / 0 |
| 41 | Robert D. Orrock, Sr. | VA | Member of the Virginia General Assembly (House of Delegates) | $220,500 | Dominion Energy $215K | 10 / 0 |
| 42 | Lamont Bagby | VA | Member of the Virginia General Assembly (Senate) | $217,500 | Dominion Energy $205K | 50 / 0 |
| 43 | Jason S. Ballard | VA | Member of the Virginia General Assembly (House of Delegates) | $217,000 | Dominion Energy $210K | 28 / 0 |
| 44 | Monty Mason | VA | Candidate for Senate | $212,670 | Dominion Energy $210K | 0 / 0 |
| 45 | Siobhan Dunnavant | VA | Candidate for Senate | $211,238 | Dominion Energy $210K | 0 / 0 |
| 46 | Todd E. Pillion | VA | Member of the Virginia General Assembly (Senate) | $210,000 | Dominion Energy $195K | 50 / 0 |
| 47 | Tony O. Wilt | VA | Member of the Virginia General Assembly (House of Delegates) | $204,000 | Dominion Energy $193K | 28 / 0 |
| 48 | James A. "Jay" Leftwich | VA | Member of the Virginia General Assembly (House of Delegates) | $197,500 | Dominion Energy $193K | 28 / 0 |
| 49 | John Curran (Illinois) | IL | State Senator, District 41 | $192,282 | Ameren $70K | 1 / 0 |
| 50 | Tony McCombie | IL | State Representative, District 89 | $187,470 | Ameren $70K | 1 / 0 |
| 51 | Robert Rivas | CA | Speaker of the California Assembly, AD-29 | $182,200 | Edison International $43K | 15 / 0 |
| 52 | Frank Ruff (Virginia candidate) | VA | Virginia candidate for Senate (Republican) | $181,000 | Dominion Energy $180K | 0 / 0 |
| 53 | Christie New Craig | VA | Member of the Virginia General Assembly (Senate) | $176,000 | Dominion Energy $173K | 50 / 0 |
| 54 | Cottie Petrie-Norris | CA | California Assembly, AD-72 | $173,200 | Edison International $47K | 15 / 0 |
| 55 | Destiny LeVere Bolling | VA | Member of the Virginia General Assembly (House of Delegates) | $170,099 | Dominion Energy $166K | 28 / 0 |
| 56 | Daniel W. Marshall, III | VA | Member of the Virginia General Assembly (House of Delegates) | $167,500 | Dominion Energy $165K | 10 / 0 |
| 57 | Wren M. Williams | VA | Member of the Virginia General Assembly (House of Delegates) | $157,750 | Dominion Energy $155K | 28 / 0 |
| 58 | Israel D. O'Quinn | VA | Member of the Virginia General Assembly (House of Delegates) | $157,204 | Dominion Energy $140K | 28 / 0 |
| 59 | Emily M. Jordan | VA | Member of the Virginia General Assembly (Senate) | $157,000 | Dominion Energy $150K | 50 / 0 |
| 60 | Gavin Newsom | CA | Governor of California | $155,000 | Amazon $100K | 0 / 9 |
| 61 | Geary Higgins | VA | Member of the Virginia General Assembly (House of Delegates) | $151,000 | Dominion Energy $143K | 10 / 0 |
| 62 | W. Chad Green | VA | Member of the Virginia General Assembly (House of Delegates) | $147,000 | Dominion Energy $146K | 10 / 0 |
| 63 | Josh Shapiro | PA | Governor of Pennsylvania (2023-) | $146,000 | Cozen O'Connor $76K | 0 / 1 |
| 64 | Joe Morrissey | VA | Candidate for Senate | $145,000 | Dominion Energy $145K | 0 / 0 |
| 65 | David A. Reid | VA | Member of the Virginia General Assembly (House of Delegates) | $144,000 | Dominion Energy $125K | 28 / 0 |
| 66 | Mark L. Earley, Jr. | VA | Member of the Virginia General Assembly (House of Delegates) | $143,500 | Dominion Energy $143K | 10 / 0 |
| 67 | Tina Kotek | OR | Governor of Oregon (Democrat), 2023- | $132,500 | Amazon $40K | 0 / 4 |
| 68 | Dade Phelan | TX | $122,333 | Oncor $50K | 0 / 0 | |
| 69 | Rick Chavez Zbur | CA | California Assembly, AD-51 | $121,400 | Edison International $33K | 15 / 1 |
| 70 | Susan Hippen | VA | Candidate for Delegate | $120,000 | Dominion Energy $120K | 0 / 0 |
| 71 | Jennifer B. Boysko | VA | Member of the Virginia General Assembly (Senate) | $118,658 | Dominion Energy $112K | 50 / 0 |
| 72 | Kim A. Taylor | VA | Member of the Virginia General Assembly (House of Delegates) | $117,500 | Dominion Energy $115K | 10 / 0 |
| 73 | Heath Flora | CA | California Assembly Republican Leader Sept 16, 2025 to Aug 3, 2026, AD-9 | $114,800 | PG&E $30K | 15 / 0 |
| 74 | Christopher T. Head | VA | Member of the Virginia General Assembly (Senate) | $114,500 | Dominion Energy $105K | 50 / 0 |
| 75 | Delores L. McQuinn | VA | Member of the Virginia General Assembly (House of Delegates) | $109,509 | Dominion Energy $104K | 28 / 0 |
| 76 | T. Travis Hackworth | VA | Member of the Virginia General Assembly (Senate) | $109,500 | Dominion Energy $100K | 50 / 0 |
| 77 | Chris Obenshain | VA | Member of the Virginia General Assembly (House of Delegates) | $106,000 | Dominion Energy $105K | 10 / 0 |
| 78 | Amanda E. Batten | VA | Member of the Virginia General Assembly (House of Delegates) | $104,500 | Dominion Energy $93K | 10 / 0 |
| 79 | Timmy French | VA | Member of the Virginia General Assembly (Senate) | $103,500 | Dominion Energy $100K | 50 / 0 |
| 80 | John Reid (Virginia candidate) | VA | Virginia candidate for Lt. Governor (Republican) | $100,000 | Dominion Energy $100K | 0 / 0 |
Every bill, regulator's order, executive action and election the study tracks, with its result, its recorded vote and the people and companies on the record for it. Each links to the official document.
Each state's filing system, read whole: the payers, the people they paid most, and what the state decided. Each state has its own page with the full list of measures and recipients. The narrative for each is in the findings.
The state fights follow one policy, formulated nationally and executed locally. The cards below summarize the study's findings.
Keep the sales-tax exemption; certify gas generation on data center demand; keep cost allocation inside the utility commission and out of statute; preserve by-right or fast-track siting; no moratorium. The same items appear in Virginia, Georgia, Texas, Louisiana, Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, Tennessee and Arizona, often in the same phrases.
The Data Center Coalition lobbied in at least eight states. It urged Georgia’s veto and rewrote Indiana’s local-payment clause in private meetings. ALEC’s model accord (August 2026) endorses “cost responsibility” and opposes bans. The White House enrolled 23 Republican governors and 187 utilities in the industry’s own voluntary pledge.
The venues were a House subcommittee in Richmond, a five-member commission in Atlanta, a four-to-one commission in Plaquemine and a lame-duck county board in Prince William. The bodies with the least public attention carried the most consequential votes. And the money reached the people who ran them.
Georgia’s PSC incumbents were removed at the ballot in November 2025. Prince William’s board chair was defeated over the Digital Gateway. The rezoning was voided in court. Port Washington held the first-in-the-nation referendum in April 2026. North Carolina’s three override Democrats were defeated in primaries in March 2026. Tucson rejected Project Blue 7-0. Where a legislature then acted, voters had moved first.
The money is corporate-treasury and employee-PAC giving reported in the 16 states’ own filing systems (and VPAP for Virginia), 2023 to the latest filing, with Louisiana’s file from 2015. Transfers between a politician’s own committees, conduit memo lines and gifts from the opposing side (Clean Virginia, local opposition committees) are left out. Executives’ personal cheques, super PAC spending, 527 transfers and lobbying are different kinds of money. The report keeps them apart. Nothing on this page adds across kinds. The federal lobbying figure, $334.4M of client spend on 456 filings that mention data centers, is an upper bound: a filing’s amount covers every issue on it.
The votes are the legislatures’ own roll calls, loaded for the members the study follows (the whole chamber where the state publishes it). A yea is a vote for the measure as titled. The measures are the bills, commission orders, executive actions and elections the study identified; each links to its official record.
Every payer total was reconciled against the payer’s own reports where the state publishes them. Every figure in the report was re-derived from these rows on 2026-10-22. The checks are in the report’s verification log. Figures on this page were last recomputed on November 3, 2026. Correlation is not proof of causation; the record shows what was paid and what was decided.
* The state data in the Tracker. For this study the Tracker has read the campaign finance systems of 16 states. Each is loaded whole for the payers and politicians the study follows, and reconciled against the payers’ own reports:
We are committed to adding all public data about data centers for every state. But without more staff, the Tracker cannot take on much more and still keep what is already here in good order. Every state’s filing system is different. Every load is reconciled against the payers’ own reports. Every figure on these pages is re-checked when the data changes. That work does not shrink once a state is in. We will build out incrementally, but not at the expense of the data already on the site.
If you can help carry it, support the project. If you know a state’s filing system well and want to help load it, get in touch.
