The race to determine the next governor of Texas will be the most critical political event for data center developers and utilities this cycle, according to a recent report by Bank of America. The coming administrator will oversee an energy interconnection queue totaling 474 GW, with approximately 90% of those requests originating from data center projects—a volume that is more than five times the state’s all-time system peak.
While the bank noted that Texas remains the clearest source of secular demand growth for the industry, it advised investors to prepare for wider volatility margins. BofA warned that regulatory constraints, including local zoning and the state legislative docket, now possess institutional momentum that operates independently of Governor Greg Abbott’s traditionally pro-industry rhetoric. The analysis also identified Georgia, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Oregon as other high-impact gubernatorial races among 36 being tracked.