When Bernie Sanders and Ron DeSantis Agree... You're Watching the Rules Change

Issue #2 | January 7, 2026
Intelligence for the people who build the cloud

When the far left and the far right unite against something...

You're watching a political inflection point form in real time.

And right now, they're both pointing at data centers.

Bernie Sanders called for a national moratorium on data center construction last week.

His words: "Frankly, I think you've got to slow this process down. It's not good enough for the oligarchs to tell us it's coming — you adapt."

Ron DeSantis unveiled an "AI Bill of Rights" in December that would give local communities explicit permission to block data center projects.

His take: "We have a limited grid. You do not have enough grid capacity in the United States to do what they're trying to do."

These two agree on almost nothing.

Except this.

Why does this matter to you?

Because politics determines where projects get built.

How fast they get permitted.

And whether your services are needed.

The $800 billion buildout isn't slowing down.

But WHERE that money lands?

That's shifting fast.

Let's talk about what just happened in December.

PJM Interconnection — the largest grid operator in the country, serving 67 million people across 13 states — ran its capacity auction for 2027-2028.

They came up short.

The numbers:

→ PJM needed a 20% reserve margin for reliability
→ They only secured 14.8%
→ That's a 6,625 MW shortfall
→ Nearly 5,100 MW of the demand increase? Data centers.

Capacity prices hit $333.44/MW-day — a record high for the third auction in a row.

Total cost: $16.4 billion.

And here's the kicker...

PJM is making a decision THIS MONTH on new rules for data centers.

Two proposals on the table:

Governors' proposal: Incentivize data centers to bring their own power generation

Lawmakers' proposal: Cut power to data centers during emergencies if they don't bring their own supply

Translation?

The free ride might be over.

Data centers have been connecting to the grid faster than new power plants can be built.

That game of musical chairs is ending.

What this means for supply chain:

→ Backup power systems (generators, batteries) are about to become mandatory, not optional
→ On-site generation deals will accelerate
→ Projects with their own power sources jump the line
→ Everyone else waits

If you move generators, install power systems, or finance energy infrastructure...

Your phone should be ringing.

Remember the $98 billion in blocked projects I mentioned in Issue #1?

It's not slowing down.

Between April and June 2025 alone, Data Center Watch tracked 20 proposals worth $98 billion across 11 states that were blocked or delayed.

That's two-thirds of everything they were tracking.

And it's gotten organized.

One commercial real estate executive counted seven or eight deals in recent months where opponents went door-to-door...

Handed out shirts.

Put signs in yards.

This isn't random NIMBYism anymore.

It's coordinated.

Recent casualties:

Palm Beach County, FL: 200-acre data center complex postponed after residents showed up.

This is Trump's backyard.

East Vincent Township, PA: Crowded rooms, angry residents, December 2025.

"Would you want this built in your backyard? Because that's where it's literally going."

Maryland: Lawmakers overrode the governor's veto to force a study on data center impacts.

They're paying attention now.

The pattern:

Communities that once welcomed data centers as "clean industry" are now seeing them as:

→ Energy hogs that raise utility bills
→ Water consumers competing with residents
→ Noise polluters (cooling systems run 24/7)
→ Property value threats

Where projects are moving instead:

→ Texas (less zoning, more land, friendlier politics)
→ Mississippi/Louisiana (cheap power, minimal opposition)
→ Rural Midwest (desperate for investment)
→ International (UAE, Norway, Argentina)

The opportunity:

If you're a contractor, trucker, or supplier — follow the migration.

The East Coast is getting harder.

The Sun Belt and Gulf states are getting busier.

While communities fight data centers...

OpenAI is building an empire.

Five new Stargate sites announced:

→ Shackelford County, Texas — Oracle partnership
→ Doña Ana County, New Mexico — Oracle partnership
→ Midwest site (TBA) — Oracle partnership
→ Lordstown, Ohio — SoftBank partnership, already under construction
→ Milam County, Texas — SoftBank/SB Energy partnership

Plus the flagship in Abilene, Texas, which is already operational and running early AI workloads.

The Michigan bombshell:

A 1+ gigawatt Stargate campus called "The Barn" is coming to Saline Township.

Construction starts early 2026.

→ Three 550,000 sq ft buildings on 250 acres
→ 2,500 union construction jobs
→ 450+ permanent positions
→ 1,500 additional support jobs in the county

Governor Whitmer called it "the largest investment in the state's history."

Current Stargate totals:

→ Nearly 7 gigawatts of planned capacity
→ Over $400 billion committed over next 3 years
→ On track to hit $500 billion / 10 GW commitment ahead of schedule

What this means:

Stargate alone will need:

→ Thousands of transformer deliveries
→ Tens of thousands of heavy haul loads
→ Massive construction crews
→ Equipment supply chains that don't exist yet

The sites are chosen.

The money is committed.

Now it's about execution.

If you're positioned in Texas, Ohio, New Mexico, or Michigan...

You're sitting on opportunity.

California tried to regulate data centers in 2025.

Big Tech won.

Here's what happened:

→ The state tried to create a separate electricity rate for data centers (protecting households from rate hikes)
→ Tech companies lobbied hard
→ Governor Newsom vetoed a bill requiring data centers to report water usage
→ An electricity disclosure bill died quietly in committee

What survived?

A requirement for regulators to write a report... by 2027.

That's it.

The report won't even be ready in time for 2026 legislation.

Why California caved:

A handful of tech companies pay upward of $5 billion in state income tax withholding.

When they threaten to leave, politicians listen.

Stanford released a report warning California could lose "property-tax revenue, union construction jobs, and valuable AI talent" if data center construction moves out of state.

The result:

California keeps building data centers.

Residents keep paying higher utility bills.

And no one knows how much water these facilities actually use.

The irony:

California has some of the highest electricity costs in the country.

Limited land.

Massive opposition.

Yet they're still trying to attract data centers.

Meanwhile, Texas and Georgia are eating their lunch.

1. PJM's January decision

The grid operator will decide whether to force data centers to bring their own power.

This could reshape the entire industry.

If they mandate backup generation, every data center project becomes a power project.

2. Trump administration energy policy

The administration just paused all offshore wind farms under construction off the East Coast — including a 2.6 GW project that was supposed to help power Virginia's data center market.

That's a huge hole to fill.

3. State-level regulations

Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania are all considering new data center rules in 2026.

Watch for bills that could slow permitting or increase costs.

4. Stargate site announcements

The "Midwest site" is still TBA.

Rumors point to Wisconsin or Illinois.

When it drops, there will be a land rush.

5. Opposition organizing

188 activist groups across 24 states.

They're sharing playbooks.

What works in Virginia gets copied in Pennsylvania, Florida, and Ohio.

Expect more coordinated resistance.

Let me cut through the noise.

If you're in trucking/heavy haul:

→ Stargate sites need transformers, generators, cooling equipment
→ Michigan, Ohio, Texas are hot zones
→ Specialized permits for oversize loads = barrier to entry = pricing power

If you're in electrical/construction:

→ PJM's decision could mandate backup power systems at every data center
→ That's generators, switchgear, battery systems
→ Union jobs in Michigan alone: 2,500+

If you're in equipment supply:

→ Transformer lead times are still 2-4 years
→ Anyone with inventory or fast-track manufacturing has leverage
→ Distribution transformers, switchgear, cooling systems all in short supply

If you're in financing/lending:

→ Data center projects need creative financing
→ Power generation co-location deals are the new play
→ Developers want capital partners who understand the energy side

If you're in land/real estate:

→ Follow the migration: Texas, Gulf Coast, rural Midwest
→ Watch for Stargate "TBA" announcements
→ Properties near substations = premium

[This section reserved for intel from truckers, contractors, and readers on the ground. Got something? Reply to this email.]

2026 is the year data centers become a political issue.

Bernie and DeSantis agree.

PJM is breaking.

Communities are organizing.

None of this stops the buildout.

There's too much money, too much demand, too much momentum.

But it changes WHERE and HOW projects get built.

The winners will be:

→ Regions that want the investment (Texas, Gulf states, rural Midwest)
→ Projects that bring their own power
→ Supply chain players who can navigate the chaos

The losers will be:

→ Anyone betting on the East Coast status quo
→ Projects that depend on grid power with no backup plan
→ Companies that ignore community relations

The $800 billion is still flowing.

The question is whether you're positioned to catch it.

That's Issue #2.

If this was useful, forward it to someone who moves equipment, builds infrastructure, or finances deals.

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Talk next week.

— Edem

The DC Pipeline: Weekly intelligence for truckers, contractors, equipment suppliers, and lenders serving the data center buildout.

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