Exposed: Paxton Operation Is Being Kept Afloat by Data Center Money

AUSTIN, TX – Ken Paxton has spent recent months posing as a critic of data centers, but new reporting reveals that, despite Ken Paxton’s election season conversion, the bogus attack ads against his opponent that have flooded Texas airwaves have been almost entirely funded by Elon Musk. Musk owns the biggest, most air-polluting data centers in America, and has been expanding his AI operation to Texas. He has now funneled almost $160 million to prop up Paxton. Musk recently said that his agenda is to have AI and data centers be free of regulation and have all his actions be presumed “default legal.”

“Ken Paxton will be a wholly owned subsidiary of the biggest, most air-polluting data centers in America, just as Elon Musk is collecting over a billion in tax breaks and forcing his AI operation on Texas. As a politician awash in corruption allegations, we can only imagine what Paxton has promised for data centers in return,” said Tiffany Hsieh, Senior Director of Climate Power’s Western State Hub.

Musk’s push comes as Texas is already overrun: there are more than 600 data centers operating, under construction, or planned, with Dallas alone being home to more than 263. Paxton’s opponent, James Talarico, has pledged to put common sense guardrails on data centers and ensure local communities have input.

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