Part 6
Money Shouts
By Christopher Stern, Contributing Writer
Del. Josh Thomas (D-Prince William) was optimistic last January when the General Assembly convened with a stack of legislative proposals aimed at curtailing the unrestrained growth of data centers in Virginia.
More than two dozen bills were introduced from a broad, bipartisan group of lawmakers who wanted local officials to have more authority when it came to reviewing the mammoth construction projects. By the time the session ended three months later, not a single bill limiting data center growth was enacted.
Thomas attributes the legislative shutout to several factors, not least of which is the more than $30 million given to legislators since 2023 by a loose coalition of energy companies and data center developers and labor unions, which benefit from construction jobs.
Two dozen bills limiting data centers were introduced in this year’s session. Not one survived. Photo by Doug Stroud.
Money has long played an outsized role in Virginia politics in large part because the state is one of 10 that allow unlimited contributions to political candidates. Campaign donations surged to unprecedented levels beginning in 2023 as the AI-driven data center boom kicked off.
The explosion in data center demand can be traced back to Nov. 30, 2022, when ChatGPT launched. In less than five days, the app that put AI tools at consumers’ fingertips signed up more than one million users. In less than two months, it attracted 100 million users, making it the fastest software launch in history.
Big money quickly followed. This year the largest tech companies–including Microsoft, Amazon, Google and Facebook–are expected to invest $250 billion in artificial intelligence infrastructure, according to Goldman Sachs.
From 2023 through the first nine months of 2025, Dominion Energy donated $23.8 million to candidates in the commonwealth, according to the Virginia Public Access Project, a nonpartisan group that tracks campaign spending. During the previous three years, Dominion donated $8.9 million. Donations from unions also surged.
“There's an old saying that money talks–the big contributions that are possible in Virginia means that money shouts,” said Stephen Farnsworth, a professor at Mary Washington University.
“It’s difficult to take on a multibillion-dollar industry,” says Josh Thomas, a Prince William delegate to the General Assembly. Photo by Doug Stroud.
Thomas said his constituents have made it clear in public meetings, emails and phone calls that they want constraints on data centers, considering them noisy and unsightly. In addition, the one issue utility executives and politicians can agree on is that monthly electric bills are increasing because of surging energy demand from data centers.
“Those of us that have been longtime data center reformers have been banging the triangle and beating the drum about the impact on the commonwealth,” said Thomas. “Our numbers are growing, but it's still difficult to take on a multibillion-dollar industry.”
Among the legislative proposals that failed was Thomas’ own bill aimed at protecting regular ratepayers from subsidizing electric bills for data centers. It was unanimously defeated in the Labor and Commerce Committee.
“From a campaign finance perspective, the people who make the largest donations do not want us to place any limits on curtailing the use of energy here in Virginia,” said Thomas.
The Labor and Commerce Committee killed eight of 17 data reform bills. Dominion Energy–by far the largest donor to the Virginia General Assembly– gave almost $3 million to 13 of the committee’s 21 members between 2023 and 2025.
Dominion is a publicly traded utility that has long been viewed as the most powerful corporate interest in Richmond.
Dominion said its campaign donations are part of doing business. “Like most companies, we’re involved in the political process because public policy impacts how we serve our customers,” wrote Dominion spokesman Aaron F. Ruby. “These issues have become increasingly important in Virginia, so we’re staying engaged in the process and supporting policies that are good for our customers.”
While Dominion is the largest donor to candidates, Clean Virginia, an environmental group founded by Charlottesville-based financier Michael Bills, is not far behind. Clean Virginia has given $12.6 million to candidates since 2023. Bills’ wife, Sonjia Smith, gave another $4.8 million. Clean Virginia gives money only to candidates who refuse to take money from Dominion.
This year three Democratic candidates switched sides, abandoning Clean Virginia’s money for Dominion’s. Among them is Del. Kelly Convirs-Fowler (D-Virginia Beach), who serves on the powerful Labor and Commerce Committee. “My responsibility is to the people and community that I represent, not to lobbyists and special interests,” Convirs-Fowler said in an email when asked about the switch. Convirs-Fowler received a $70,000 donation from Dominion on Aug. 22.
Clean Virginia says Convirs-Fowler is turning to Dominion just as the debate over data centers is entering a critical phase. “At a time when data centers are driving an energy and affordability crisis, it’s more important than ever that the lawmakers responsible for responding to these crises demonstrate their independence and accountability to the people of Virginia by rejecting money from these profit-driven monopoly utilities," wrote Brennan Gilmore, Clean Virginia’s executive director, in an emailed statement.
Virginia is one of the few states that does not limit campaign donations. This has allowed Dominion to make hefty contributions to candidates, including $445,000 to Del. Luke Torian (D-Prince William) since 2023, according to VPAP.
Still, Dominion’s donations to Torian are dwarfed by the $1.4 million given to House Speaker Don Scott since 2023, including more than $500,000 in both 2023 and 2024.
Scott is considered Virginia’s most powerful legislator because he presides over the House of Delegates, doling out committee assignments and steering bills through the legislative process. He did not respond to emails.
The data center industry’s influence extends to local officials. In March, the Prince William Times reported that Alejandra Duarte Mulhausen, wife of data center developer Jeff Mulhausen of Cedrus Group, gave $100,000 to Prince William County Supervisor Yesli Vega. Since 2022, Jeff Mulhausen has given a total of $70,000 to a mixture of state and Prince William officials. Vega also received $100,000 from William Cooley, a Florida developer. Both Mulhausen and Cooley are involved in a controversial proposal to build five data centers next to the Four Seasons retirement community in Dumfries.
The Times also reported that Mulhausen and landowners connected to the Mid-County Industrial Park, where the Prince William County Board approved three data centers, gave a total of $70,000 to Prince William supervisors Vega, Margaret Franklin and Andrea Bailey. Vega’s vote was critical to the project’s approval.
Data centers are one of the few headline-making issues that are not defined by party affiliation. Republican Del. Ian Lovejoy (R-Prince William) had a host of his own data center reform-oriented proposals shot down earlier this year. Among them was a proposal to ban local officials from voting on a data center if they accepted money from a donor backing the project. Lovejoy also proposed a ban on building data centers within a quarter mile of a school or residential area and a five-year moratorium on data center tax exemptions.
“You’re in a headwind of something unions and businesses agree on,” said Lovejoy. “They want data centers, so that’s a very foreboding force to try going up against.”
Data centers are indeed big business in Virginia. A Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, which conducts research for the General Assembly, found that data centers contribute $9.1 billion to the state’s GDP and bring 74,000 jobs, mostly construction. They are also a significant source of local tax revenue. Loudoun County, the world’s largest hub for data centers, projects that it will collect almost $900 million from data centers in 2026.
The amount of money Dominion and its allies donate allows them to influence the political process in ways that can’t be matched by their opponents, said Richard Meagher, chair of political science at Randolph-Macon College. Legislators “certainly have to pay attention, and they’re more likely to delay action or be less robust in regulating or listening to other people–voices that want more regulation or to slow down development,” said Meagher.
“You’re in a headwind of something unions and businesses agree on,” says Del. Ian Lovejoy of Prince William. Photo by Doug Stroud.
Both Thomas and Lovejoy report being disappointed by the 2025 legislative term, but are optimistic the 2026 session, which opens Jan.14, will be more successful.
”There was a record-breaking amount of legislation attempted by a growing group of concerned senators and delegates,” Lovejoy said. “So that is a positive take-away. At least people are paying attention.”
Fueling his optimism is the belief that more legislators will be open to reform after seeing December’s JLARC report, published just before the 2025 legislative session was getting under way.
Among other things, the report recommended giving local officials the authority to review data center proposals to ensure they don’t compromise water supplies or emit sound at levels that would disrupt communities.
He also noted that the legislature must act since the energy demands of the data centers are on track to overwhelm the state’s electric grid.
“The simple fact is that we cannot keep the lights on and power these data centers means that there has to be action,” said Lovejoy.
Times contributing writer Peter Cary contributed to this report.
You can reach Christopher Stern at cstern@fauquier.com.
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