TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida’s race for governor is beginning to expose a fundamental disagreement over how the state should handle the enormous infrastructure demands of America’s rapidly expanding digital economy.

Democratic nominee David Jolly is calling for Florida to ban new data centers.

Republican nominee Byron Donalds is taking a different approach, arguing that Florida can continue attracting investment and technological development while addressing legitimate concerns involving electricity, water, infrastructure and surrounding communities.

The disagreement presents Florida voters with a broader philosophical question that extends beyond data centers:

When a growing industry creates legitimate challenges, should government prohibit it — or establish reasonable protections while allowing private investment and economic development to continue?

Jolly Calls for a Ban

Jolly has taken a firm position against additional data-center development in Florida.

“Byron Donalds is wrong on data centers,” Jolly said. “Floridians are saying no. I agree. We need a ban.”

Concerns surrounding the industry should not be dismissed.

Large data centers can require tremendous amounts of electricity. Some facilities also consume significant amounts of water for cooling, depending on their design.

Their development can require additional electrical-generation capacity, transmission infrastructure and other utility investments.

Those are legitimate issues for Florida residents and policymakers to consider.

But Jolly’s proposal raises another question: Do those concerns justify prohibiting an entire category of private development statewide?

Donalds Rejects the Ban Approach

Donalds does not believe they do.

The Republican nominee has defended continued data-center development while arguing that Florida can accommodate technological and economic growth without sacrificing the interests of residents.

That does not mean Florida should give data-center developers a blank check.

There are legitimate questions Donalds and other supporters of continued development will need to answer.

Who pays when additional electrical infrastructure is required?

Should ordinary residential customers bear increased costs associated with servicing enormous commercial facilities?

How should Florida protect its water resources?

And what responsibility should developers have for infrastructure improvements their projects make necessary?

Those questions deserve answers.

But they are different from concluding that government should simply prohibit new facilities altogether.

Why Data Centers Matter

Data centers are essentially the physical infrastructure of the digital economy.

Inside these massive facilities are thousands of servers responsible for storing and processing information used by businesses and consumers every day.

Cloud computing, banking, streaming services, online commerce and increasingly artificial intelligence all depend upon them.

The extraordinary growth of AI has accelerated demand for computing capacity throughout the United States.

That means states are increasingly competing for the investment associated with building the infrastructure behind the next generation of technology.

Florida must decide whether it intends to participate in that growth — and under what conditions.

Growth Comes With Costs

Supporting private investment does not require ignoring its consequences.

Electricity may be the biggest concern surrounding large-scale data centers.

Facilities can consume enormous amounts of power, potentially requiring utilities to expand generation and transmission capacity.

Florida policymakers should be particularly careful about allowing those costs to simply migrate onto the electric bills of homeowners and small businesses.

If a private development creates extraordinary infrastructure requirements, there is a reasonable argument that the company benefiting from that infrastructure should bear an appropriate share of its cost.

Water presents another concern.

Some data centers use substantial amounts of water for cooling, although consumption varies considerably depending on the technology employed.

Florida already faces water-resource challenges in rapidly growing areas.

Those realities make regulation, planning and transparency important.

They do not necessarily make prohibition the only answer.

What Would Florida Give Up?

There is also another side of the equation.

Data centers represent billions of dollars in potential private investment.

Construction creates economic activity. Facilities can expand local tax bases. Technology infrastructure can help attract other businesses. And the computing capacity these facilities provide will increasingly underpin industries ranging from medicine and finance to manufacturing and artificial intelligence.

Florida has spent decades cultivating a reputation as a state open to businesses, entrepreneurs and investment.

An outright statewide ban would represent a significant departure from that philosophy.

Before Florida takes such a step, policymakers and voters should understand both sides of the ledger — not only what data centers consume, but what Florida could lose by telling an entire emerging industry to build somewhere else.

Regulation or Prohibition?

That may ultimately be the most important distinction between the two candidates’ positions.

The question is not whether data centers have consequences. They clearly do.

The question is how government should respond.

Florida could establish standards for water consumption.

It could require developers to contribute toward infrastructure improvements.

Utilities and regulators could establish protections designed to prevent residential customers from subsidizing extraordinary commercial electricity demands.

Local governments could consider land-use compatibility when determining where facilities belong.

And state government could demand transparency regarding incentives or taxpayer subsidies offered to attract individual projects.

Those are policy decisions Florida can debate.

A statewide prohibition eliminates that debate by deciding that new data centers simply should not be built.

Donalds is rejecting that approach.

Another Contrast in the Governor’s Race

The dispute adds another significant policy difference to a general-election campaign already developing around affordability, property taxes, government spending and Florida’s continued growth.

Donalds has called for major property-tax reform and says his ultimate goal is eliminating homestead property taxes.

He has also pledged to continue Florida’s Department of Governmental Efficiency efforts, including scrutiny of spending by state agencies and local governments.

His position on data centers follows a similar governing philosophy: allow economic activity while looking to government to establish reasonable protections rather than prohibit development outright.

Jolly’s proposed ban represents a substantially more restrictive approach.

Florida voters will ultimately decide which philosophy they prefer.

Florida Realtors Backs Donalds

Donalds has also picked up a significant endorsement as the general-election campaign begins.

The Florida Realtors Political Advocacy Committee endorsed Donalds for governor during the Florida Realtors Convention in Orlando.

The endorsement is particularly notable as housing affordability, property taxes and development emerge as major issues in the race.

It also gives Donalds support from an industry deeply connected to Florida’s continued growth and development.

Florida Has a Decision to Make

Florida has changed dramatically over the past several decades.

Millions of new residents have arrived. Businesses have relocated to the state. Communities have expanded. Technology has transformed nearly every sector of the economy.

That growth creates opportunities.

It also creates challenges involving roads, housing, electricity, water and other infrastructure.

Data centers are another part of that equation.

Florida should ask difficult questions before approving enormous facilities that could place substantial demands on utilities and natural resources.

Residents should know who will pay for infrastructure improvements. Developers should be expected to address the effects their projects create. Government incentives should withstand public scrutiny.

But Florida must also consider the consequences of closing its doors to an industry that is becoming fundamental to the modern economy.

That is where Donalds and Jolly now differ.

Jolly says Florida needs a ban.

Donalds believes Florida can manage the challenges while remaining open to technological investment and economic growth.

As artificial intelligence and computing infrastructure become increasingly important to the national economy, that disagreement could become much bigger than a debate over where to put a few server farms.

It is becoming a debate about what kind of economic future Florida wants.

Florida’s 2026 election season is far from over. Follow the governor’s race, statewide contests and election results heading into November at the IRC Media Election Center.

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