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A massive data center project in Box Elder County, Utah helped bring down the Beehive State’s Senate President, who lost his GOP primary on Tuesday after his support for the controversial development fueled voter backlash.
Stuart Adams, one of Utah’s most powerful politicians and the longest-serving president of the state Senate in its history, lost to challenger Stephanie Hollist, a former university lawyer and vocal opponent of the data center.
Hollist accused Adams, as well as the state’s broader political establishment, of ignoring public concerns about a Stratos data center project that critics feared could cause serious environmental harms.
Adams won his previous reelections in the reliably red state with ease. But his position as head of the Utah Military Installation Development Authority, which approved initial plans for the development earlier this year, made him a focal point of growing voter dissent over the project.
Box Elder County Commissioners Boyd Bingham and Lee Perry, who voted in favor of allowing the plans to continue, also lost their primary elections.
“Do I think that the data center vote cost me the election? Yes I do,” Perry told The Salt Lake Tribune after conceding on Wednesday. “Would I do anything different? … I wouldn’t vote differently, but I would push back against the state and make them come out publicly and tell everybody why they’re forcing it down our throat.”
The proposed Stratos project, which is backed by investor and “Shark Tank” star Kevin O’Leary, is expected to be one of the world’s largest artificial intelligence data centers, spanning multiple sites across the Beehive State.
But residents worried the project could strain fragile water supplies near the Great Salt Lake and consume strenuous amounts of electricity. Developers have argued the campus would create jobs and generate millions in tax revenue.
As opposition mounted, Adams sought to distance himself from the project in the closing weeks of his campaign, calling for significant reductions to its proposed size of 40,000 acres. But it was too late for the lawmaker, who became the first sitting Utah Senate president to lose a primary election in modern Utah history.
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