US Senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, discusses US-Canadian trade tensions, the backlash against data center development and the legacy of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on ‘Balance of Power: Evening Edition:’

KAILEY LEINZ, BLOOMBERG: Senator, I’d like to ask you about whether another question is good for Americans, and that’s data center development. This is a hot issue across the country, but especially so in Texas, where both now the man running to be your colleague in the Senate, Ken Paxton and Governor Abbott, seem to have turned against data centers. Is that the only way to win in your state or across the country in this midterm cycle, be anti-data center? SEN. TED CRUZ: Well, listen, I think it is critical that America win the race for AI, but I also think the concerns being raised about data centers are real and reasonable and they need to be addressed and they need to be addressed head on. It’s worth noting that this anti-data center movement is not entirely organic, that China is putting real money into funding this movement. You’ve got this guy, Neville Roy Singham, who is a Marxist. He’s a communist American billionaire who lives in China, who is funding much of this. And from China’s perspective, they want us to never build another data center and basically cede all of AI to them. That would be a bad outcome. Now, what are real concerns? LEINZ: Is Ken Paxton and Governor Abbott falling for Chinese propaganda? CRUZ: No, because if you look at what they’re saying, I agree with what they’re saying. The concerns the voters have are twofold on data centers. Number one, water. Number two, power. Water is a very real concern. Here’s the good news. Virtually all new data centers being built use what’s called closed loop cooling, which means they use the same water and just circulate it over and over and over again. So their water consumption is very, very low. I agree with Governor Abbott who’s putting rules in place that say if you’re going to build a data center, you have to minimize your water consumption so you don’t consume too much of the water from the community. That makes sense. Number two, voters are understandably concerned about electricity prices. Electricity prices have risen 30 percent since 2021, and a lot of people are struggling to make ends meet. I agree with what Governor Abbott has said, which is no new data center will be built in Texas unless the impact of that data center is zero, is absolutely not one penny added to anyone’s electricity bills. I think that makes sense. And I’ll tell you, I’m urging the companies that are building these data centers go further than that. Make the benefits absolutely clear and indisputable. I’m urging them, send checks to the residents of the community. Send them a hundred bucks a month. Send them 500 bucks a month. Send them a thousand bucks a month. Or even better, say if we build a data center in your community, for the rest of your life, your electricity bill is free. We will pay your electricity bill. That’s how you win the PR battle, is you make the benefit. Suddenly, people will be like, hot diggity damn, I like that data center because I don’t pay a power bill.

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