Submitted Op-Ed: Rep. Maria Cervania
The backlash to data centers has been swift, fierce, and impossible to miss. North Carolinians have real concerns about data centers in their backyard, and do not want them driving up household costs even more.
We have seen it all over the state: packed hearings, heated town halls, and frustrated communities demanding to be heard.
Yet U.S. Senate candidate Michael Whatley dismissed this backlash as “not organic.” He suggested that the opposition is not real and even endorsed tax breaks for data centers.
How can a candidate for the United States Senate be so disconnected from the people he wants to represent?
Well, the answer is simple. He is thinking about his own financial interests.
Whatley reported making hundreds of thousands of dollars to consult for companies including GE Vernova, a massive data center energy provider, while campaigning for U.S. Senate. And Whatley has up to $1.6 million invested in the data center industry, including Duke Energy. Meanwhile, Duke Energy is seeking additional rate increases from North Carolina families as it prepares to power a surge of data centers across our state.
The North Carolina Utilities Commission will announce its decision on those rate increases in the coming months. Families are already struggling with higher electricity bills and rising prices for groceries, housing, and other necessities. They should not be forced to shoulder another increase, especially one driven by some of the world’s largest and wealthiest corporations.
And, when directly asked by the press three times whether he opposed the proposed rate increases, Whatley dodged the question every time.
These should be the easiest questions to answer: Should working families pay higher electricity bills while utilities, data-center corporations, and their investors benefit? Who wants working families to be hit with high energy bills? An investor trying to get rich, that is who.
When Duke Energy earns more, Whatley profits. When data centers surge and pop up across the state, he profits again. North Carolina families, meanwhile, could be left with higher bills.
That is precisely the kind of conflict North Carolinians are tired of seeing from lobbyists and Washington insiders. A seat in the United States Senate should be used to serve the people and not to advance policies that could enrich the person holding it.
North Carolina deserves a senator who understands that public office is a public trust.
Roy Cooper has spent his career serving North Carolina as a legislator, Attorney General, and Governor. He knows our communities, listens to the people affected by government decisions, and understands that economic growth must benefit working families, not come at their expense.
He brings the experience, steadiness, and commitment to our state that this moment requires. Most importantly, he has a plan to make stuff cost less.
On November 3, we have the power to reject self-interest and choose genuine public service. We can elect Roy Cooper, a true public servant, to the United States Senate and send someone to Washington who will always put North Carolina first.
Representative Maria Cervania represents parts of Wake County in the North Carolina General Assembly.
