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Missouri Voters Recall Council Member Over AI Data Center Support
Confirmed
In Short: In Independence, Missouri, voters recalled a City Council member who backed tax breaks for a proposed AI data center, reflecting growing opposition to such projects.
Voters in Independence, Missouri, recalled a City Council member who supported tax breaks for a proposed AI data center, a move that rebuked his decision in March to back billions of dollars in incentives for the construction of a $150 billion data center by Dutch company Nebius.
The council member, Perkins, was one of five who voted to issue tax breaks totaling over $6 billion to Nebius. A Facebook group opposing the data center, 'Stop the AI Data Center in Independence,' has 115,000 members, many of whom celebrated the recall results.
Two other council members who supported the data center tax breaks lost their subsequent election bids in April, highlighting the growing unpopularity of such projects among voters.
President Donald Trump recently stated, 'If I were the mayor of a town or the governor of a state and I had a chance to get a big plant in, an AI plant or a data center, I would absolutely want it,' reflecting his pro-data center stance, which is putting pressure on Republicans ahead of midterms.
Recent Gallup polling shows that 7 out of 10 Americans oppose data centers being built in their communities, underscoring the broader public sentiment against such projects.
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- Voters in Independence, Missouri, on Tuesday night voted to recall a City Council member who has served for more than a decade, rebuking his decision in March to back billions of dollars in tax breaks for a proposed…
- In March, Perkins was one of five council members who voted to issue tax breaks totaling more than $6 billion to Dutch company Nebius for the construction of the planned $150 billion data center.
- A Facebook group for Independence residents who oppose the data center called Stop the AI Data Center in Independence has 115,000 members, many who celebrated Tuesday night when the unofficial election results showed…
- But in a recent Kansas City Star op-ed, he urged voters to judge him by his full record, adding that he stood by the data center vote.
- Two other City Council members who’d voted in favor of the data center tax breaks — Bridget McCandless and Jared Fears — lost their subsequent election bids in April.
- Recent Gallup polling shows 7 out of 10 Americans oppose data centers getting built in their communities.
- And this is what he said the other week. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: If I were the mayor of a town or the governor of a state and I had a chance to get a big plant in, an AI plant or a…
- Polling shows that data centers are extremely unpopular.