Data centers · a side by side
Greg Abbott spent a year celebrating data centers, then froze new grid connections statewide in August 2026 once the backlash arrived. Ryan Alter spent a spring voting data centers onto the Colorado River, then announced a ban push in August 2026 once the backlash arrived.
Two politicians, opposite parties, identical calendars.
Greg Abbott
Declares Texas the "epicenter of AI development," celebrating new data center projects beside Google's chief executive.
Reverses. Now he is "pushing back against these AI data centers that are trying to build in our neighborhoods," and directs regulators to shield ratepayers from the infrastructure costs of the boom he courted.
Freezes new data center grid connections statewide pending audits, amid public backlash.
Sources: KUT, 19 August 2026; Texas Tribune, 3 August 2026.
Ryan Alter
Co-sponsors the economic development framework targeting "data management." Residents ask for a data center exclusion. It passes without one.
Talks tough: data centers must be "a net contributor and not just here to suck up our resources."
Votes yes on the 45-year agreement permitting data centers beside the Colorado River, then yes on roughly $1.5 billion to finance it.
Joins the push to ban hyperscale data centers, warning they "pose a real threat to our natural resources, our environment, and our quality of life."
Sources: Community Impact; Austin Current; City of Austin vote record; KUT, August 2026.
The verdict
Greg Abbott is not accountable to District 5. Ryan Alter is. And on the one issue where an Austin progressive was supposed to be the wall between a data center and the Colorado River, he ran the governor's playbook, on the governor's schedule, and got there second.
If your council member's climate record is indistinguishable from Greg Abbott's,
it is time to alter course.