Texas Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa said on Thursday that the state will stop new data center development until it has laws to protect Texans, in her first major policy statement since defeating Gov. Greg Abbott in Tuesday's election.
"Data centers have moved into mostly rural communities, and there are no rules and laws to protect Texans and Texans are being taken advantage of," Hinojosa told CNN. "So the difference is we will have laws to protect Texans, and we need to stop what we are doing with data centers until we have those protections."
"It is not that I hate data centers. I hate the way they are taking advantage of Texas, and that stops when I'm governor," she added, saying Texans should have "a seat at the table to decide if and how these data centers come into their communities." She stressed the state remains pro-business.
Hinojosa defeated three-term Republican Abbott by seven percentage points on Tuesday, becoming the first Democrat elected governor of Texas since Ann Richards in 1990. She takes office on January 19, 2027. She campaigned on a moratorium on new data center approvals until the legislature passes protections for residents, including limits on nondisclosure agreements, safeguards for water and electricity bills, and an end to state tax breaks for the facilities.
The stakes are enormous. Texas is the nation's second-largest data center market behind Virginia, with more than 80 data centers operating in the state, another 50 under construction and more than 120 planned, according to tracking group Cleanview. Investment bank Jefferies has estimated that a moratorium could put 13.3 gigawatts of announced Texas projects at risk, and that the state accounts for roughly 26 percent of planned data center capacity in the United States.
Hinojosa's stance builds on steps Abbott himself took before the election: in August he paused new grid connections for data centers and ordered an audit of every project in the queue, and the state environmental agency is issuing no new data center permits until the review is complete. The Trump administration has backed data center expansion as a national priority, and Elon Musk — whose SpaceX and Tesla are headquartered in Texas — spent heavily supporting Abbott's side, including $158 million promoting Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton alone, Musk said on Wednesday. Hinojosa said Texas can have a strong relationship with Musk, "but on her administration's terms."
