Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) said Wednesday he agrees with President Trump, not Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, on the buildout of data centers, accusing the governor of backing off the issue because he is “scared by the polls.”
Fetterman made the comments on CNN’s “The Arena” when host Kasie Hunt asked him directly who was right, Trump or Shapiro.
“Oh, the President is actually right, overall. We used to be moving forward on data centers, and now, he’s actually scared by the polls,” Fetterman said.
The senator said he had already staked out his position on X a few days before the interview, arguing that the country cannot afford to fall behind in artificial intelligence development.
“I think it’s very necessary that we win the war on AI. I think it’s necessary, because AI is going to transform our world. And it can be either us be the leaders, or it can be the Chinese and we could live under those rules and they’re going to build unlimited data centers and they’re not really stopped by the kind of like democracy and the kinds of rules that we have overall,” Fetterman said.
He also claimed that opposition to data centers has in part been driven by Chinese Communist Party influence, though he did not offer supporting detail on that point in the interview.
On the practical costs, Fetterman argued that data centers use a small fraction of the country’s resources compared with other sectors, comparing their footprint to something like almond farming.
“Now, with data centers, also, there’s the [fact], now, that it consumes a very, very — maybe 0.1%, compared to almonds and compared to other things, part of our economy, and also our land usage as well,” he said.
Fetterman framed Pennsylvania as well positioned to benefit from expanded data center construction.
“Pennsylvania, we are energy rich, we are water rich, and we’re land rich now. So, I think it’s an important part of our economy, not just for Pennsylvania’s, but also the country right now,” he said.
He closed by acknowledging the political risk of his position within his own party.
“Now I’m very much aware, I can read the polls as a Democrat, but I think the President happens to be, on AI and data centers, absolutely — and now, it’s like, sometimes, there [are] more important [things] than what the polls might say,” Fetterman said.
