Data Center Super PAC Commits $1.5M to Kansas Governor's Race

Building the Future, a super PAC organized to support data center expansion, has committed more than $1.5 million to back Republican state Sen. Ty Masterson in the Kansas race for governor, according to a person familiar with the spending who shared details Monday with NBC News. The group is an offshoot of Leading the Future, a super PAC supported by major artificial intelligence companies.

The Kansas spending mirrors a parallel effort in South Carolina. Earlier Monday, The New York Times reported that Building the Future plans to spend about $1.5 million on advertising to assist GOP Sen. Darline Graham in her Senate contest. In August, Build American AI, a nonprofit working within the Leading the Future network, announced a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign covering Kansas, Ohio and Wisconsin focused on policies governing data center growth, and disclosed the formation of Building the Future.

At the time, the group said it would support candidates backing "responsible policies that strengthen and protect communities, preserve water resources, and prevent rate hikes on electricity bills, while ensuring American leadership in AI and creating good-paying jobs for American workers."

Kansas holds one of the few Democratic governorships that Republicans could flip this fall, and the nonpartisan Cook Political Report lists the contest as leaning Republican. The state also has a competitive Senate race between Republican Sen. Roger Marshall and Democratic pastor Adam Hamilton.

Masterson has opposed moratoriums on data center construction and defended a 2025 law he supported that created a sales tax exemption for data center investments. His opponent, Holscher, voted for that same law but has since called for a statewide moratorium on the developments.

Holscher criticized Masterson in a Monday statement, calling him a "stooge for Big Tech" who wants "to put a data center on every corner and in every cornfield." She added that "These billionaire CEOs know that I won't do their bidding, and that's why they're spending millions to beat me." Masterson did not immediately provide comment for this article.

Data center development has drawn opposition in multiple states. In South Carolina, Graham has described the investments as necessary for national security while supporting local control over construction, while her Democratic opponent, Annie Andrews, has sought a moratorium on new projects and labeled Graham "Data Center Darline."