Greg Abbott 从数据中心捐赠者处获得 900 万美元政治献金并对其进行监管

When you buy through our links, you’re supporting our mission.

Tech
Vehicles
- Cars
- Trucks
- SUVs
- Electric Vehicles
- Motorcycles
- Personal Transport
- Watercraft & Aviation
  - Boats
  - Flying
- Motorhomes
Home & Office
- Home Appliances
- Furniture & Living Spaces
  - Office Chairs
  - Kitchen
Culture
- Toys
Outdoor
- Camping
- Travel
- Survival
  - Tools
Innovations
DISCOVER
News
MORE
- Deals
- Gifts

Image 4: old windows folder icon

Greg Abbott Took $9M From Data-Center Donors. Now He Regulates Them.

Texas leaders shaping data-center grid and water rules collected millions from the very companies they now oversee

The Money

The Tribune split Abbott‘s total into two categories: $4.9 million from donors with direct ties to data-center development, ownership, or operations, and $4.1 million from adjacent players including AI companies, investors, and equipment suppliers.

Airbnb co-founder and Tesla board member Joe Gebbia contributed $1.5 million, the largest single data-center-related donation in the analysis. Rhett Bennett and his energy company Black Mountain, which is building hyperscale data centers in Texas, contributed a combined $1 million. Elon Musk gave $500,000, and Harlan Crow gave $250,000; Crow’s business interests include a planned data-center campus in Dallas.

The timing is worth noting, even if causation remains unproven. Industry-connected donors sent Abbott $1.5 million in June 2026, when he issued his first major regulatory recommendations. After he announced the approval pause in August, they contributed $2.8 million, the largest single monthly industry total of the entire election cycle.

Jim Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin, offered a candid read on the dynamic. According to the Tribune’s reporting, Henson said major industry participants likely expect a negotiated policy settlement and want to ensure that Abbott and his legislative allies keep them in the room when the terms are written.

Abbott’s Defense

Abbott’s campaign described his position in plain terms: data centers must pay their own infrastructure costs, protect the grid, bring their own water, and respect local communities. His team characterized the Tribune’s analysis as an attempt to manufacture controversy from information that was not new.

Those are reasonable standards to articulate. The harder question is whether the credibility of any regulatory posture holds when the industry being regulated is simultaneously funding the regulator’s campaign at scale, even if no direct connection between a specific contribution and a specific decision can be established.

The Broader Pattern

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick received more than $1.6 million from data-center-related donors and presides over the Senate that is expected to vote on these rules. House Speaker Dustin Burrows collected at least $377,500, a quarter-million of it from Musk, and has publicly named data centers a legislative priority.

Comptroller Don Huffines received roughly $1 million from indirectly connected donors. The largest share, $800,000, came from Brint Ryan, whose tax firm markets services to data-center developers seeking credits and abatements. The Meta-backed PAC Forge the Future spent an additional $1.2 million during the primary supporting candidates for comptroller and the Legislature.

Donors with direct and indirect data-center ties contributed to campaigns at multiple levels of Texas government, all while the rules governing the industry’s expansion are still being written.

Hinojosa’s campaign claimed Abbott received $20 million from data-center-connected donors. The Tribune found that figure used a broader definition than its own methodology, which excluded energy-only companies and businesses that merely lease data-center space. Under the Tribune’s criteria, Hinojosa received $25,000 from one data-center-adjacent donor, less than 1% of her contributions during the same period.

What Needs to Change

The session is expected to address whether data centers pay the full cost of the grid capacity they demand, how much water they can consume, and whether the sales-tax exemption that helped attract them survives public scrutiny. Those decisions should reflect the interests of electricity customers, water authorities, and local governments. They should not reflect the investment priorities of donors with a financial stake in the outcome.

The evidence does not prove corruption. It does establish that the system, as currently constructed, makes it genuinely difficult to tell where industry access ends and public policy begins.

• Amazon’s Secret ‘Atlas’ AI: How the Retail Giant Uses Data to Predict Whether Workers Will Join Unions

• Data Centers Have a New PR Plan: Bringing Coloring Books and Server Rack Tours to Elementary Schools

• One in Four Data Centers Sits in Water-Stressed Regions, Global Study Finds

Our Editorial Process

At Gadget Review, our guides, reviews, and news are driven by thorough human expertise and use our Trust Rating system and the True Score. AI assists in refining our editorial process, ensuring that every article is engaging, clear and succinct. See how we write our content here →

Join over 150k Readers

Join 150,000+ readers discovering the coolest gadgets, smart buying guides, and the tech news that actually matters.

LATEST Lists_

Why Trust Gadget Review

With over 25 years of experience, our editorial process is built on human expertise, ensuring that every article is reliable and trustworthy. AI helps us shape our content to be as succinct and engaging as possible.

Learn more about our commitment to integrity in our Code of Ethics.

LATEST NEWS_

***Latest*Buying Guides_

Latest Reviews_

LATEST Resource Articles_

ALL CATEGORIES_

Can You Trust What You Read Online?

Fake reviews are taking over tech journalism—45% of publications are faking product tests.

Sign up now for exclusive access to Gadget Review’s bombshell investigation. Plus, stay ahead with our daily newsletter, packed with news, lists, and deals you can trust.

We’re on a mission to fix the broken Product Review system.

1321 Upland Dr. PMB 18642

Houston, Texas 77043 USA

(737) 471-4266‬
help@gadgetreview.com

Partner with us

Advertising Options

INSIDE GR

Do not sell or share my personal information.

You have chosen to opt-out of the sale or sharing of your information from this site and any of its affiliates. To opt back in please click the "Reenable Personalization" link.

This site collects information through the use of cookies and other tracking tools. Cookies and these tools do not contain any information that personally identifies a user, but personal information that would be stored about you may be linked to the information stored in and obtained from them. This information would be used and shared for Analytics, Ad Serving, Interest Based Advertising, among other purposes.

For more information please visit this site's Privacy Policy.

CANCEL

CONTINUE

Information from your device can be used to personalize your ad experience.

Do not sell or share my personal information.

A Raptive Partner Site

Greg Abbott 从数据中心捐赠者处获得 900 万美元政治献金并对其进行监管

Greg Abbott Took $9M From Data-Center Donors. Now He Regulates Them.

Engineers Hung 4,872 Solar Panels on a Swiss Dam 8,200 Feet Above Sea Level: It Outperforms Lowland Plants 3.8x in Winter

The Money

Abbott’s Defense

The Broader Pattern

What Needs to Change

• Amazon’s Secret ‘Atlas’ AI: How the Retail Giant Uses Data to Predict Whether Workers Will Join Unions

• Data Centers Have a New PR Plan: Bringing Coloring Books and Server Rack Tours to Elementary Schools

• One in Four Data Centers Sits in Water-Stressed Regions, Global Study Finds

LATEST NEWS_

ALL CATEGORIES_

Do not sell or share my personal information.