Investing.com -- Texas Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa said Thursday that the state will introduce legislation to protect residents from the impact of data centers, particularly in rural areas.

The Democrat, who defeated Republican incumbent Greg Abbott in Tuesday’s midterm election, told CNN that data centers have established operations mainly in rural communities without regulatory safeguards for Texans.

Texas has emerged as a major location for data center development due to abundant energy resources, affordable land, and business-friendly policies.

President Donald Trump’s administration has promoted data center expansion as a national priority, with Trump personally championing the need for more facilities.

But public opposition to these projects has grown substantially over concerns about electricity usage, water consumption, effects on wildlife, and access to federal lands. Voter opposition to the data center buildout was a key factor in the midterm elections.

Abbott had become one of the first Republican governors in the country to stop new data center connections to the state’s electric grid and ordered a full audit of existing projects.

Billionaire Elon Musk backed Abbott in the election and spent $158 million supporting Texas Republican U.S. Senate candidate Ken Paxton. Paxton also lost his Senate bid to Democrat James Talarico. Following the Democrat victory, Musk repeated his proposal to construct data centers in space.

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