Candidates for Nevada governor split over public land after AI data center stalls

Federal officials promoted the Townsite data center as a way for public land to support innovation and economic growth. Now, with construction stalled, the project has become a dividing line in Nevada’s governor’s race: Republican incumbent Joe Lombardo is open to public-land development with community support, while Democratic challenger Aaron Ford pledges to oppose it.

Two different answers to the same land dispute

The split is detailed in new reporting by Jessica Hill of the Associated Press. Ford, Nevada’s attorney general and the Democratic nominee, says affordable housing should take priority on public lands.

They share some conditions for development. Both say data centers on public or private land must meet state requirements, including paying their own energy costs and protecting water supplies. Projects that do not comply, they say, should lose eligibility for state tax abatements—reductions in the taxes they would otherwise pay.

Ford told AP he would use tools including withholding those tax breaks and pursuing litigation to prevent developers from evading state safeguards. Lombardo’s office said he would confront the federal government to advocate for Nevadans. His campaign declined to make him available for an interview.

A solar review could not carry a data center

Townsite reached federal land after residents near Boulder City opposed an earlier proposal over the summer. The developer withdrew its application for a city-owned site and pursued an adjacent federal parcel. The Bureau of Land Management approved the project in June 2026; its July 20 announcement described an 88.5-acre development near the existing Townsite Solar 1 project.

Boulder City’s council voted unanimously in July to appeal the approval. The city argued that federal officials had not consulted it or allowed adequate public input. It also noted that the federally owned site would receive local utilities and emergency services.

A September 1 city notice identifies the body that granted the stay as the Interior Board of Land Appeals. According to that notice, the board found challengers likely to succeed in arguing that an environmental analysis for a solar plant was insufficient for the data center. The two projects were not “substantially the same.”

The board also found that environmental groups had demonstrated likely permanent and irreparable harm to members’ recreational interests at the site. It granted the stay on their petition and expedited the appeal. That was an interim decision, not a final resolution of the underlying challenge.

Local consent becomes an election issue

AP describes Townsite as the country’s first data center approved on federal public land and reports that more than a dozen other projects are in planning on federal property. The federal government owns 80% of Nevada’s land.

Industry and environmental advocates offer competing views of that prospect. Data Center Coalition executive Dan Diorio told AP that responsible developers could build without harming important federal lands. Olivia Tanager, director of the Sierra Club’s Toiyabe Chapter, argued that using public lands for data centers conflicts with preserving them for the public and future generations.

For some residents, the dispute is already affecting political allegiance. Autumn McGrath-Shook told AP she left the Republican Party for the Green Party over data centers, though she still identifies as conservative. She remained undecided in the governor’s race: she preferred Lombardo under normal circumstances but viewed him as more supportive of data centers.