A former Democratic senator, once recognized for a perceived “independent streak,” has been reported to be collaborating closely with the Trump administration to push for the construction of energy-intensive artificial intelligence data centers in local communities.
According to reports from YourValley.Net, former Senator Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) recently attended a planning and zoning commission meeting in Chandler, Arizona. During the event, she warned local officials that a large data center would be built in their community regardless of their approval.
Sinema was reportedly present to support plans by New York-based developer Active Infrastructure for a 420,000-square-foot data center in the city. A video of the meeting, posted on X by 12News reporter Brahm Resnik, captures Sinema stating that if local officials did not act to approve the project, the Trump administration would impose it without seeking their input.
“The AI action plan, set out by the Trump administration, says very clearly that we must continue to proliferate AI and AI data centers throughout the country,” she said. “So federal preemption is coming. Chandler right now has the opportunity to determine how and when these new, innovative AI data centers will be built.”
She further emphasized, “When federal preemption comes, we’ll no longer have that privilege. It will just occur, and it will occur in the manner in which they want it.”
The development of AI data centers has sparked widespread concern across the United States. Residents have raised issues regarding the high resource consumption of such facilities, including increased electricity costs and disruptions to water supplies in some areas.
Mike Jacobs, a senior energy manager at the Union of Concerned Scientists, recently released an analysis indicating that data centers have added billions of dollars to American electric bills in seven states over recent years. In Virginia alone, household electric bills were found to have subsidized $1.9 billion in data center transmission costs in 2024.
Progressive critics have swiftly condemned Sinema’s involvement in advocating for AI data centers, reinforcing long-standing criticisms of her alignment with corporate interests during her Senate career.
Journalist Nathan Newman expressed his disapproval on Bluesky, writing, “[I] knew Sinema would show up in some super-scummy corporate role. But being handmaiden to the AI tech lords in strong-arming local communities to accept AI data centers—or face the wrath of the Trump administration—is about as low as it goes.”
Representative Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) argued that Sinema’s remarks at the meeting underscore the need for a lifetime ban on members of Congress engaging in lobbying activities.
Ian Carrillo, a sociologist at the University of Oklahoma, criticized the methods used by major tech companies to influence communities, stating, “The AI bubble can’t pop soon enough. These data centers are rolled out in the most anti-democratic ways, involving NDAs, shadow companies and, according to Sinema, federal preemption.”
Current Affairs editor Nathan Robinson also criticized the former senator, calling her comments an example of “openly threatening localities.”
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