Let me start by saying I won’t be voting for Stacy Garrity and I have a fairly nuanced view of AI and data centers (I’m not outright opposed at all). If I were running against Governor Josh Shapiro though, at least some of my campaign would be noting his efforts to put public money into developing data centers and his approval of the public’s water use for their operations- those things are generally not popular with the “normie public,” and particularly with more activist liberals. It would seem to make sense to make him sweat over looking like he’s in bed with some rich donors at the expense of the public, even though I’d be really careful not to make it sound like I’ll end the data center boom (it’s jobs, baby).

Clearly though, I’m not Stacy Garrity.

“Forty-eight of our 67 counties in Pennsylvania are rural, so there are a lot of areas where you can put data centers that I think communities would welcome,” Garrity, 61, told a room full of reporters, think tank organizers and lobbyists in Harrisburg.

“But you have to engage with them,” she continued, referencing voters. “You have to talk to them. You can’t just jam it down their throats.”

Her answer came in response to a question, submitted during the Pennsylvania Press Club’s January luncheon, about how policymakers should address the widespread mistrust among voters toward data centers and AI.

An Emerson College poll last month found roughly 79% of Pennsylvanians think AI poses at least a “moderate threat” to humanity. Nearly half predicted that the technology would negatively impact the economy and the environment.

On data centers, Emerson researchers found voters were nearly evenly split: 38% of respondents said they support data centers being built in the commonwealth, while 35% opposed it and 27% were either neutral or had no opinion.

A majority of respondents (71%) said they were concerned about the amount of electricity that data centers draw from the grid.

Ok, so two points here. First, this isn’t popular. Just read the polls. Second, she’s not only suggesting we go on with it, she’s literally suggesting we put the data centers in all the places where Garrity is expected to win, and will need a lot of votes. This literally is like a soccer player kicking the ball into his own net.

Garrity has raised $1.5 million in five months and Governor Shapiro has $30 million in his account. This is nothing much more than a speed bump on his way to a 2028 run, and an audition for her to run statewide a second time in either 2028 or 2030. Even so, the one way to fail that audition is to make yourself not only a non-starter to the general public and people on the other side (like Mastriano), but to also make yourself a tough sell to the voters that you have to hand on your side (like Oz was). She has no chance of winning, but she’s actively Lynn Swann’ing herself here.

There is a lane to run against Shapiro in (and probably still lose, but still) where you criticize him for his cozy relationship with donors from two of his major initiatives as Governor (Data centers and school vouchers), but you have to avoid walking yourself into a hornet’s nest by saying you won’t allow data centers or some school reforms. Clearly Garrity knows she can’t thread that needle and so she’s just conceding the game. This race won’t be super competitive.