The race for governor in Wisconsin has taken a surreal turn, transforming into what can only be described as a data center hate-off. Just one week into the general election, Republican Congressman Tom Tiffany and Democratic nominee David Crowley have spent their time trading accusations over who is the bigger puppet for Big Tech. Tiffany has taken the lead in the offensive, branding his opponent Data Center David and painting him as a corporate stooge willing to pave over family farms and drain lakes just to line the pockets of Silicon Valley executives.
Crowley hasn’t stayed quiet, firing back by calling Tiffany the real corporate shill. He points toward Tiffany’s voting record in Congress, highlighting tax cuts that benefited tech giants at the expense of social services like Medicaid and food stamps. While Crowley argues that every local community should hold veto power over these massive computing campuses, he suggests that Tiffany’s own history of supporting deregulation proves he is just as enamored with the industry as those he criticizes.
Despite the fiery rhetoric, observers note a striking lack of substance separating the two candidates. Neither man actually supports a statewide moratorium on data center construction, despite polls suggesting a vast majority of Wisconsin voters believe the costs of these facilities outweigh their benefits. Both candidates agree on several key pillars, such as requiring companies to pay for their own power infrastructure and banning secret nondisclosure agreements between developers and local governments.
This political theater likely stems from internal party pressures rather than genuine ideological divides. Crowley is still feeling the heat from his primary battle against a socialist candidate who pushed for a total ban on data centers, while Tiffany sees an opportunity to peel away environmentally conscious voters from the Democratic coalition. In reality, both men are balancing a growing public backlash against AI infrastructure with the interests of powerful labor unions and municipalities that stand to profit immensely from high-tech development.
