Former Gov. Doug Wilder was right about one thing. Current Gov. Abigail Spanberger has “a problem, a serious, serious problem.” 

On Tuesday evening at the Wilder Symposium, the popular former governor argued that Spanberger has not been leading on the issue of data centers. “I’ve not heard the governor yet deliver the kind of message that’s necessary to be delivered,” the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports him saying. “What about the rising cost of electricity? What about the availability of water?” 

He went on to say: “On the matter of data centers, when I speak to the chairman of the party, who tells me the governor isn’t even talking to the chair of the money committee in the Senate, what does that tell you? The answer for Virginia is we are in trouble,” 

To the contrary. When the majorities of both parties are demanding local and state leaders slam the brakes on an industry that is the undisputed driver of the commonwealth’s economy, Spanberger is standing firm by refusing to kowtow to populist righteous anger, misguided worries, and misinformation. 

Virginia: The Aorta of the Internet

Virginia is the epicenter of the world’s internet traffic because Virginia is uniquely situated to play that role.

In his 2018 book Tubes, which provides a guide to how the internet was born, became connected, and spurred the growth of data centers, author Andrew Blum wrote that Loudoun County became the center of the internet world for a very good reason.

“The Internet,” he wrote, “works because every network is connected, somehow, to every other. Where do those connections physically happen? More than anywhere else in America, the answer is ‘Ashburn.’ This is the bullseye of America’s Internet.” 

In short, a state renowned for its above-ground physical beauty, diverse landscape, and historical sites is equally renowned for its below-ground piping that powers our online lives. 

That piping is, in a very real sense, the aorta of the internet. 

The significance of this aorta was spelled out clearly in the 2024 Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission report on the data center industry.

“Overall, the data center industry is estimated to contribute 74,000 jobs, $5.5 billion in labor income, and $9.1 billion in GDP to Virginia’s economy annually,” the report said. 

The report goes on to rightly note that construction workers and skilled laborers are among the primary beneficiaries. Some counter that these are temporary jobs that don’t help overall economies. 

The evidence suggests otherwise.

Writing recently in the New York Times, IBEW Local 26’s political coordinator, Don Slaiman, said that ten years ago, IBEW 26 workers logged 14 million work hours. Last year, that number had doubled to 28 million, and this year Slaiman anticipates it will jump again to 33 million. Further, 600 new apprentices came onboard last year alone. 

“Data centers,” he said, “are the best opportunity in generations for blue-collar workers to attain a portion of the American dream.”  

At a time when that dream is becoming harder to realize for blue-collar workers in Virginia and across the nation, to see Democratic leaders lobbying to slow the industry that is lifting families highlights the paradox of our political age.

Northam, Youngkin Sowed the Seeds – Spanberger Is Leading Virginia through the Whirlwind

Spanberger inherited the current backlash against data centers. She did not cause it. 

Rather, she continues to lean into this critical economic driver just as her predecessor, Republican Glenn Younkin, and his predecessor, Democrat Ralph Northam, did.

Since becoming governor, Spanberger has seen an unprecedented populist backlash against data centers emerge, driven by genuine concerns – how do we manage the energy and water demands, for example – and blatantly incorrect claims. No, data centers do not run 24/7 on diesel power. Nor are they principally responsible for rising utility bills – the reality is far more complicated. Nor are they draining the state’s water supply. 

At the same time, some Virginia politicians have found in data centers an issue that rallies voters. The call for moratoria has spread, and counties that have led on data centers now find its politicians — some of whom led the charge to bring them to their communities — jumping on the anti-data-center bandwagon.

Sen. Louise Lucas – the chair of the money committee that Wilder referenced – hijacked Virginia’s budget process this spring in an effort to rollback the commonwealth’s incentive agreement to bring data centers to Virginia. She developed a data center listening tour as a tool to try and push the governor to concede. 

Lucas insists the data center incentive packages are costing the state tax dollars, implying the incentives aren’t working. These incentives have proven to work “quite well in terms of generating economic returns,” according to Dwayne Yancey – Virginia’s Walter Cronkite. 

Leading through the Hurricane

Spanberger may have stumbled some in her early days – notably in the fight to re-draw Virginia’s congressional districts – but on the issue of data centers, she has stood firm and led in the midst of a public hurricane. 

Spanberger did not buckle as Lucas pressured her to cave on incentives. That move certainly cost the governor politically.

Wilder says Spanberger isn’t speaking to Lucas. It’s as likely, owing to the governor’s standing firm, that Lucas is the one not talking to the governor.

Intraparty fights are best kept behind closed doors. But then, Spanberger has shown a willingness to stand up to fellow Democrats when required, as she did when she was in Congress and pushed back on party leadership about getting cozy with socialists. 

Spanberger has held ground for one main reason – respecting what the state promised it would do. To roll back the tax exemptions before their sunset date would be a sign to data center developers, and any other business investor, that Virginia doesn’t keep its word. “I’m not going to break a contract the state has signed,” she said.

She also likely understands that while Virginia leads the nation now in data center development, the state can quickly lose its position. 

For all the bluster about the state’s standing in the CNBC Best States to Do Business rankings, our neighbors to the south and west have made clear that they are ready to pounce if Virginia fails in the data center sector. North Carolina is among the fastest growing data center markets in the country. And West Virginia is laying out a red carpet for the industry in a state desperately in need of new revenues. 

It’s worth remembering, as Spanberger clearly has, both states pull their power from PJM — the same grid that Virginia does. If growth stops here, and accelerates there, Virginians will still share in the burden of increasing energy production and improving the infrastructure that delivers it. It will lose out, however, on billions more in investments.

Spanberger’s firm backbone hasn’t been limited to Richmond. She did not allow a rollback of the state’s right-to-work law. A strong supporter of labor, she also understands that ending right-to-work could have had a negative impact on workers if it led to businesses leaving the state. It has cost her with many labor leaders. 

Nor has she simply rolled over and given data center developers everything they want. She is increasing pressure on data center companies to pay more of the freight to build electrical infrastructure and deliver it to data centers. And she approved the energy excise tax that data center companies must now pay – as much as a not inconsequential $1.2 billion over the next two years.

Gov. Wilder may well not see in Spanberger the “kind of message that’s necessary to be delivered.”

But Spanberger has delivered a message. She will not jeopardize Virginia’s economic health in the face of a populist uprising. 

That may not be what Wilder and others want to hear.

But then, good leaders don’t bend to what people want to hear. They learn the issue, weigh the variables, listen to the opposition, and then do what they were elected to do.

Make the hard decisions.