Data center group jumps into the Kansas governors race to boost Republicans

Building the Future, a new pro-data center super PAC, is spending more than $1.5 million to back Kansas state Sen.Ty Masterson, a Republican, in the state’s battle for governor, a person familiar with the spending said Monday in details first shared with NBC News.Building the Future is an offshoot of the pro-AI super PAC Leading the Future, backed by AI heavyweights and arguably the leading super PAC promoting industry interests in the midterm elections.Earlier Monday, The New York Times reported that Building the Future is also set to spend about $1.5 million in advertising to boost GOP Sen.

Darline Graham in the South Carolina Senate race.In August, Build American AI, a nonprofit that is also in the Leading the Future network, announced a multimillion-dollar ad campaign in Kansas, Ohio and Wisconsin seeking to boost preferred policies to govern data center growth.At the time, it announced the formation of the political group, Building the Future.The group said in August it would back candidates who support “responsible policies that strengthen and protect communities, preserve water resources, and prevent rate hikes on electricity bills, while ensuring American leadership in AI and creating good-paying jobs for American workers.”The new spending followed months of opposition to data center development intensifying, with the sprawling structures needed to power the AI boom becoming a key issue for voters across the country.Kansas is one of the only Democratic-controlled governorships that Republicans have a shot at flipping this fall.

The nonpartisan Cook Political Report lists that race as leaning Republican.The state also features a competitive Senate contest between Republican Sen.

Roger Marshall and Democratic pastor Adam Hamilton.In a statement Monday, Holscher called Masterson a “stooge for Big Tech” who wants “to put a data center on every corner and in every cornfield.”For SubscribersFOR SUBSCRIBERS6 key takeaways from Anthropic’s IPO fil...