Republican Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy on Wednesday unveiled an ambitious policy proposal that would tie future data center development to direct financial benefits for nearby residents, including free household electricity, lower property taxes and stronger environmental protections.
In a post on X, Ramaswamy said Ohio should embrace economic growth while ensuring local communities benefit from the rapid expansion of data centers across the state.
“If a data center is built in your community, then you will no longer have to pay for your home’s electricity, you will pay lower property taxes, and the data center will be required to abide by all air and water quality standards without exception,” he wrote. “If any one of these three conditions is not met, the data center won’t be built. Period.”
READ: Brookfield, NextEra plan $100 billion Kentucky AI data center campus (July 29, 2026)
Ramaswamy said concerns over rising electricity costs, property tax abatements for large corporations, noise, pollution and uncertain economic benefits have become one of the biggest issues he hears from Ohio voters, second only to property taxes.
He said he would issue an executive order on his first day in office to halt approvals of new data center project announcements until legislation implementing the new framework becomes law. He pledged to work with the Ohio legislature to codify the policy shortly after taking office in 2027 if elected.
Under his proposal, new data centers would generate electricity using dedicated natural gas or nuclear power plants. Any surplus electricity would either be credited toward residential electric bills within a designated “benefit zone” or companies would directly reimburse homeowners for their electricity costs.
Ramaswamy argued that a 1,000-megawatt power plant serving a data center could generate enough excess electricity to eliminate electric bills for tens of thousands of nearby households, with many counties potentially falling entirely within a benefit zone.
READ: Vivek Ramaswamy pledges lower costs, bigger paychecks for Ohio (July 28, 2026)
His plan also calls for ending future property tax abatements for data centers. Instead, companies would pay their full property tax obligations, with those revenues funding rebates for homeowners while continuing to support schools, police and fire departments.
On environmental issues, Ramaswamy said data centers would be required to comply fully with air and water quality standards, recycle and reuse water using the best available technology, and prioritize construction on vacant industrial brownfield sites rather than fertile farmland.
The proposal also drew a contrast with his Democratic opponent. Ramaswamy said his rival recently proposed ensuring data centers do not increase electricity costs for ratepayers, an idea he said he had championed since early 2025. He argued his plan goes further by seeking to eliminate electricity costs altogether for residents living near qualifying facilities.
The proposal comes as Ohio continues to attract billions of dollars in investment from technology companies building artificial intelligence infrastructure and large-scale data centers, a trend that has sparked growing debate over energy demand, tax incentives and environmental impacts.