Hinojosa Calls for Halt to Texas Data Center Activity Until Safeguards for Residents Are Adopted

Key Facts

Gina Hinojosa, Texas’ governor-elect, called for the state to halt its data center activity until safeguards are in place to protect residents, in an interview with CNN on Thursday, November 5. “We’re going to put laws in place to protect Texans, and we need to stop what we’re doing with data centers until those safeguards are in place,” Hinojosa said. Her remarks set out a political position on regulating the sector; she did not announce an effective decision in the interview to impose a blanket freeze. The call comes amid a dispute over the impact of expansion on rural communities and local resources. Hinojosa tied any continuation of activity to rules that protect residents and give them a role in decisions affecting their areas.

Hinojosa said data centers had moved into predominantly rural communities without rules or laws to protect Texans. She added that local communities have a right to weigh in on whether these projects are built and how they operate locally. The demand puts community participation at the center of her position, alongside regulation of project approvals. Her campaign plan calls for halting approvals for all data centers until the legislature passes protective laws. The legislature is scheduled to meet in January 2027, while Hinojosa takes office on January 19, 2027, making the legislative calendar a key milestone for the proposal.

Her campaign priorities include requiring data center operators to hire union workers, protecting community water supplies and preventing companies from using nondisclosure agreements that hinder public tracking of projects, according to The Texas Tribune. The newspaper also said Hinojosa aims to prevent data centers from driving up residents’ electricity bills and to end tax incentives for companies. The demands extend beyond construction approvals to the distribution of the costs and benefits of expansion. In August, Hinojosa criticized a pause announced by Gov. Greg Abbott, saying, “The pause could last one day, and nobody believes that.” That background supports her push for legislative safeguards broader than a temporary measure.

The debate comes as Texas’ power grid faces significant demand for connections from data center projects. Grid operator ERCOT said it was tracking more than 400 gigawatts of data center projects seeking to connect to the grid, according to a Reuters report published on November 4, 2026. In August, the operator was tracking more than 1,800 projects on its interconnection request list, representing more than 474 gigawatts, and Abbott said then that about 90% of new power requests were for data centers. Abbott announced in August a pause on approvals for data centers tied to grid connection requests while regulators reviewed their proposed projects. The review covered tax incentives, power, water, impacts on communities and ownership, and was expected to continue through December 2026.

The call to restrict construction coincides with local opposition to the spread of these facilities. In a Reuters/Ipsos poll published during election week in November 2026, 42% of registered voters said limiting the construction of data centers used to power artificial intelligence was a very important or the most important issue to them. The Associated Press reported that restrictions on data centers passed in 44 of 45 local elections where vote counting was complete, according to Redbud Consulting. The agency also quoted Morgan Stanley describing Hinojosa’s election as “the most significant election outcome” for data center development. These indicators place the election result in the broader debate over community acceptance of projects and their effects.

Official Texas results showed Hinojosa leading the governor’s race, with 5,230,789 votes to Abbott’s 4,524,527, according to results updated on November 4, 2026. Hinojosa will work with the Democratic-majority Texas House of Representatives, and her term begins on January 19, 2027, according to The Texas Tribune. Before then, the legislature’s January meeting is the date her plan targets for adopting safeguards that give residents a role in deciding whether data centers enter their communities and how they operate. Abbott’s review of the grid and environmental permits was expected to end in December 2026. The next steps will therefore be shaped by the end of the ongoing review and legislative deliberations over permanent rules.