How data centers became Nevada’s midterm fight
Data centers are windowless warehouses packed with servers. In 2026, they have become one of the country’s defining political issues. Nevada has hosted them for decades. What is new is the wave of moratoriums, local restrictions, and campaign platforms built around limiting them. How did the state get here?
The buildings run around-the-clock. They store files, power streaming, and, more recently, train and run artificial intelligence. The servers generate so much heat that the facilities use large amounts of electricity and, depending on how they are cooled, large amounts of water.
Nevada-based Switch has operated data centers in the state since the early 2000s and opened its first SuperNAP campus in Las Vegas in 2008. In the 2010s, the state recruited the industry more aggressively, first in the Las Vegas area and then east of Reno at the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center (TRI). TRI also landed Tesla, Google, and Apple. Switch opened a major Citadel campus building there in 2017.
In 2015, the Legislature created a data-center tax break. Qualifying projects can receive a cut in personal property taxes and a lower sales-tax rate on equipment if they make a required capital investment and create high-paying Nevada jobs. Then-State Sen. Aaron Ford (D) sponsored the bill.
Since the 2015 tax-break bill passed, much of Nevada’s new data-center growth has gone to Storey County. In May 2026, Gov. Joe Lombardo attended the groundbreaking for a $4.6 billion Fleet/Tract campus on USA Parkway, about two million square feet, or 38 football fields. Officials said it would support about 1,500 construction jobs and permanent staff. County Manager Austin Osborne has said the projects bring tax revenue and also strain roads, housing, power, and other infrastructure.
A 2023 industry analysis found that Nevada data centers employed an estimated 4,550 people and generated $290 million in state and local tax revenue that year.
Even with those economic effects, public opinion has turned sharply negative. A Fox News poll found that 70% of voters oppose an AI data center in their area. Gallup found 71% opposed, a higher share than those who oppose a nearby nuclear plant. The University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center put opposition at 61%, up 12 points in four months.
Ford, now the Democratic nominee for governor, has called for a pause on new data-center tax abatements. Gov. Joe Lombardo (R) has said he supports data centers if they use closed-loop cooling and do not raise utility rates. Lombardo’s campaign has pointed out that Ford sponsored the 2015 bill that created the incentives and has taken nearly $25,000 in political contributions from data centers.
Meanwhile, local governments are taking action. Reno barred new data-center applications through August 2027. Nye County banned them in the Pahrump basin. Henderson rejected a pause and will review projects case by case. Boulder City voters will decide in November whether they are allowed on city land in the Eldorado Valley. The question is the same as in Storey County: how much power, water, and tax subsidy these buildings should get.
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