The proposals are planned near homes in Limerick Township, where Chrissie Dziembowski lives between the two sites. One facility would cover 2.8 million square feet — roughly the size of the King of Prussia Mall — and the other would span 1.8 million square feet. Plans have also drawn attention to a controversial land swap approved by the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

Dziembowski said residents across party lines are concerned about the projects. She has been approached by both campaigns and said the amount of political advertising has made it difficult for voters to sort out where candidates stand.

“It’s a unifying community issue,” she said.

Republican state Sen. Tracy Pennycuick, the incumbent, is seeking re-election against Democrat Chris Thomas, who is running for office for the first time. Green Party candidate Michael Schonewolf Jr. is also in the race. The district includes parts of Montgomery and Berks counties and has a mix of suburban and exurban communities facing development on former farmland.

Pennycuick previously backed legislation intended to speed data center development. She later amended the proposal to include local control, but it has not advanced out of committee. She now says she supports tighter oversight, including local authority to reject projects, limits on water use, protections against shifting electricity costs to ratepayers, and a ban on nondisclosure agreements between developers and elected officials.

Pennycuick said she does not support a statewide construction pause because some Pennsylvania communities may want data centers. She said she initially understood the facilities to be a less disruptive alternative to warehouses, but learned that they may not be suitable for every community.

Thomas also opposes a moratorium, saying a pause is not needed to identify safeguards. He has called for measures to protect utility customers, hold providers accountable, prevent secretive agreements and limit pollution. He supports Gov. Josh Shapiro’s plan to regulate data center development.

Neither candidate supports a moratorium proposed by Democratic state Sen. Katie Muth. The proposal has one Republican co-sponsor. Schonewolf said he favors banning data centers rather than pausing development.

The campaigns have traded attack ads over the issue. Pennycuick has questioned Thomas’ opposition to the projects, citing his support from building trades unions and his past employment by a company that had worked at a site later proposed for an Amazon data center in Falls Township. Thomas called the claims linking him to data center development a smear campaign.

The race is drawing substantial spending as both parties seek control of the state Senate. A September poll put Thomas at 46% and Pennycuick at 44%, with Schonewolf at 3% and 7% undecided. Its margin of error was 4 percentage points, leaving the contest statistically close. Pennycuick won the district by 4 points in 2022; the district backed Donald Trump by about 2 points in 2024.

Data center opposition has not settled into a clear partisan divide, political strategist J.J. Balaban said. The issue is relatively new in campaigns, and concern about the facilities cuts across party lines, giving candidates an opening to appeal to voters outside their usual base.

Political science professor and Republican strategist Samuel Chen said the issue highlights a gap between public opinion and support for data center growth among political and business leaders. He said Republicans face particular tension because President Donald Trump and U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick have supported the industry, while many voters have raised concerns.

Pennycuick said she does not expect Trump’s position to determine her race, describing data center decisions as local. She has also expressed support for much of Shapiro’s executive order on the issue. Shapiro, who promoted data center development earlier in the year, shifted toward stronger requirements after public opposition grew.

For Dziembowski, the debate is about more than nearby construction. She worries about how AI affects her school-age children and says the proposed facilities make the technology’s local consequences feel immediate. She has urged Pennycuick to back a moratorium, arguing that elected officials should respond to residents’ opposition rather than the preferences of communities elsewhere.

The dispute, she said, has become a test of whether residents believe government is listening to them.