Texas Governor- elect Gina Hinojosa’s has pledged to introduce stricter regulations on growing expansion of data centers, which she said is to protect residents. Hinojosa announced it during a press conference on Thursday.
Hinojosa, who defeated Republican incumbent Greg Abbott in the November midterm has called for stronger safeguards before allowing further data center construction. She has proposed a moratorium on new developments until the state establishes regulations addressing their impact on local communities, electricity consumption, and water scarcity.
“We will have laws to protect Texans, and we need to stop what we are doing with data centers until we have those protections,” said Hinojosa.
READ: 10,000 Flock cameras in Texas? Gina Hinojosa targets Abbott over $26M contract (
Texas has emerged as a major destination for data center investments as the state has relatively inexpensive land, energy availability and business-friendly policies. Major tech companies, including Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Tesla, have their operations in the state. Other tech giants have also expanded their operations in the state to support growing demands of AI and cloud computing.
However, the current scale of expansion has raised concerns due to its effect on environment and unfavorable conditions that residents often face, such as utility bills. “Data centers have moved into mostly rural communities, and there are no rules and laws to protect Texans,” Hinojosa added.
The governor-elect’s position on data centers has attracted criticism from Republican leaders. Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis warned that incoming Democrat Attorney General in Texas would target Musk’s businesses as SpaceX and Tesla corporate headquarters are located there. DeSantis referenced Tesla’s Gigafactory manufacturing facility near Austin. “They’re going to go after Elon Musk. I guarantee you they will do that,” he said. SpaceX operates its Starbase launch facility in South Texas.
Elon Musk said that he has spent over $158 million promoting Texas Republican US Senate candidate Ken Paxton and supported Abbott.
READ: Greg Abbott says ‘US citizenship is not for sale,’ orders probe into birth tourism (July 22, 2026)
Post-election results, U.S. Sen.Ted Cruz also expressed concerns about political investigations into business executives associated with President Donald trump. “I will say also, look, the Democrats have already foreshadowed that if they have one or both houses, they’re going to use subpoenas to go after business executives who’ve worked with the president, to go after Elon Musk,” he said.
Hinojosa told reporters that she’s actively interviewing people to replace Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath, who was an appointee of Republican Gov. Abbott. Hinojosa holds the title of first Latina elected governor of Texas and the first woman to lead Texas since 1995. She built her campaign around public education, pause on new data center projects, affordability and limiting the influence of wealthy donors and corporations in politics.