Backlash to data centers prompts political upset in northern Virginia

FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) — The tech industry's drive to dot the Virginia landscape with data centers may have hit a glitch this week in Prince William County. 

Residents of the state's second most populous jurisdiction delivered perhaps the biggest upset among a series of surprising election results in Tuesday’s Democratic primary, when political newcomer and data center opponent Deshundra Jefferson knocked off the county's top elected official, Ann Wheeler. 

Last year, Wheeler led a majority on the Board of Supervisors that approved a plan to rezone more than 2,000 acres (809 hectares) of farmland to accept data centers, which house the computer servers and hardware required to support modern internet use. 

The plan, called the Prince William Digital Gateway, prompted one of the region's biggest land-use disputes in decades. It was approved despite vocal opposition from residents concerned that the data centers are noisy, ugly, and consume massive amounts of electricity that require the addition of high-voltage transmission lines.