For many Californians, County fairgrounds are a place of history, fond memories, and tradition. Where I live in Ventura County, the fairgrounds are walking distance from my home — they’re right next to the beach and were gifted to the community by the Foster family, who envisioned a “pleasure ground for the amusement, health, and pleasure of the general public.” But this gem and all 70 of the state’s fairgrounds face a new threat: a ridiculous proposal to build a data center on each and every one.

Until recently, much of California has been mostly spared from the data center boom that has taken over the country. When Food & Water Action attended the State Democratic Convention in February, the party’s platform hardly mentioned data centers, and neither did any of the frontrunner candidates for governor. 

At the same time, the tech industry has a vicelike grip on its home turf, with many of the nation’s biggest AI corporations headquartered in Silicon Valley. In 2025, AI and cryptocurrency giants spent $39 million to sway California politics; Meta alone has dropped $20 million on a California-specific super PAC. Big Tech has spent big to support its allies and favored policies.

But the tide is changing as the movement against data centers grows. Data centers have now become a major issue in state politics ahead of the 2026 midterms. California’s 22nd Congressional District is one of the top battlegrounds in the country and home to several data center proposals facing fervent grassroots opposition.

Across the state and across party lines, people are rallying around the same demand: “No new data centers!”

Global Stack’s Scheme for California’s Fairgrounds

What started as a few ridiculous schemes for a few County Fairgrounds quickly revealed itself to be even bigger. The developer, Global Stack, has proposed to build a data center on all 70 of California County Fairgrounds by 2030. 

The company has no experience building data centers and was founded less than a year ago. The proposals show a “one-size fits all approach” with a small data center, a parking garage, and a helipad for each fairground. But this doesn’t make sense in a state with as many diverse environments and communities as California. 

Moreover, these proposals are calling for 100-year leases. Global Stack also has no concrete plans for where it’s going to get the electricity or water for these data centers, or even the funding to build them.

To make matters worse, in August, the San Francisco Chronicle uncovered a damning conflict of interest — the daughter of California’s deputy secretary for fairs and expositions works for Global Stack. 

Data Centers Are a Bad Deal for California

The Global Stack scheme and data centers more broadly have no place in California. In a state stricken by climate-fueled drought for years, data centers promise to guzzle and pollute our precious water supplies. 

The Central Valley in particular has long suffered from water shortages. Big Oil and Big Ag have contributed to a groundwater crisis. From 2016 to 2026, over 2,6000 wells have run dry across Fresno, Kern, Kings, and Tulare counties.

One 99MW data center in Kern County is proposed for the small desert community of Inyokern, which already experiences water shortages. The project there may draw 12 to 16 million gallons of water a year.

Along with the concerns over water quantity, data centers also risk polluting water with PFAS “forever chemicals” and worsening water quality as they drain aquifers. Additionally, they require massive amounts of electricity, which may drive up electricity prices amidst the Central Valley’s affordability crisis. Even the “small” data centers proposed by Global Stack, at 8 to 10MW, would consume as much electricity as several thousand homes. 

To meet these vast energy needs, many data centers are turning to the quickest, cheapest, and dirtiest sources of energy they can. In Inyokern, developers are proposing to use 44 diesel generators to power the data center there. These generators are notorious for their air pollution.

Already, the Central Valley faces some of the worst air quality in the country thanks to pollution from Big Ag, Big Oil, and heavy industry. Data centers and their fossil-fuel power will only make this problem worse.

California Fights Back Against Data Centers

One of the first counties to fight back against this outrageous scheme was Tulare. The community quickly moved to action, and on August 19, the County board unanimously passed a 45-day moratorium. On September 22, they renewed it for 10 more months. 

Across the Central Valley, grassroots groups and concerned residents are banding together to fight these fairgrounds proposals — including in my home county of Ventura. After weeks of fervent opposition, the Ventura County Fairground Board voted 5 to 3 to reject Global Stack’s proposal for the Ventura Fairgrounds. 

But despite the growing resistance to AI data centers, many California leaders haven’t caught up. That includes Governor Gavin Newsom. Last year, Newsom vetoed a bill that would have required data centers to disclose how much water they use. That bill would have given communities much-needed information about the harms of these facilities. 

Newsom has sided with the tech industry in vetoing several other AI regulatory bills in recent years. As this legislative session comes to a close and several AI bills await Newsom’s signature, the governor has an opportunity to end his time in Sacramento on the right side of this fight.

We Need Leaders Who Will Stand Up to Data Centers

Across the state, Californians are showing up to fight data centers. In June, the City of Monterey Park passed a ballot measure 88%-to-12% to permanently ban data centers. The Fairgrounds fight has driven not only Tulare to pass a data center moratorium. 

In a single month, more than a dozen California cities and counties have proposed or passed data center moratoriums. Food & Water Action and our allies are preparing to fight for a statewide moratorium when lawmakers return to Sacramento in December.

We’re also taking this fight to the ballot box this November. In the coming weeks, we’re putting our all into electing Randy Villegas, a champion for people over profit, in California’s 22nd District. Randy is one of the only Congressional candidates in California to call for a data center moratorium. 

His is one of the tightest races in the country, as he works to unseat a Republican incumbent. A victory for Randy would not only elect a progressive champion in the Central Valley — it would bring the Democrats one step closer to taking back the House. 

Across race, class, and party lines, Californians are united in their opposition to data centers. Leaders and would-be leaders would do well to ignore the siren song of Big Tech cash and stand with their constituents instead.