By admin 
LANSING – Democratic candidate for governor Joceyn Benson is using a new TV ad to call for ending tax breaks for data center companies, a move that might heighten the debate over the future of artificial intelligence in Michigan.
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Over the years, lawmakers in the battleground state have approved an array of tax exemption policies aimed at drawing data center projects. In 2024, when the Legislature was controlled by Democrats, to provide sales and use tax exemptions for the computer equipment inside large data center developments.
Benson’s campaign launched the new commercial, which also advocates for a moratorium on new data centers, on Sept. 13, 51 days before the Nov. 3 election.
“We need to put a moratorium on data centers, end their tax breaks and stop them from raising our electric bills,” Benson says in the new ad. “So that people, not profit, come first.”
Benson of Detroit is Michigan’s current secretary of state. She’s running against U.S. Rep. John James, a Republican from Shelby Township, to be the next governor.
Public outcry about environmental and economic concerns has made data centers a key issue in the 2026 midterm election nationally.
There are 70 operational data centers in Michigan, according to the website U.S. Data Center Map. However, two more are under construction, and 15 more are planned, the website says. Two of those on the way are magnitudes larger in terms of capacity than anything that’s currently functioning in the state.
Among the upcoming data centers is the so-called Stargate project in Saline Township, where a hyperscale facility is under construction on 250 acres of farmland and is expected to eventually demand 1.4 gigawatts of electricity, roughly as much as 1 million homes.
Tech giants Oracle and OpenAI are backing the Saline Township project. New York-based real estate giant Related Cos. is overseeing development of the data center through its affiliate company, Related Digital.
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“Here in Michigan, we took bold, bipartisan steps to open our doors to the knowledge-based sector and cultivate the economy of the future, but in a way that protects workers, safeguards our environment and uplifts communities,” state Sen. Kevin Hertel, D-St. Clair Shores, said last year of the tax exemptions approved in 2024.
Term-limited Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has advocated for that Saline Township project. Benson’s husband, Ryan Friedrichs, is a vice president of development at Related Companies, the New York City-based real estate development conglomerate that founded Related Digital, which is developing the data center project in Saline Township for tech giants Oracle and OpenAI.
Related Digital voluntarily disclosed to The News last month that it was still evaluating which tax exemption to pursue for the $16 billion project but currently was planning to seek a sales and use tax exemption that was in place prior to the 2024 law.
In her ad, Benson doesn’t say how long a moratorium on data centers should last.
James has said he wants local government agencies to set Michigan’s approach to data centers.
“Lansing should not dictate to the locals,” James previously told The News. “So that plan is going to be determined by the locals.”
A spokeswoman for Mission Michigan, an organization that supports James’ bid for governor, has criticized the ties of Benson’s husband to the Saline Township project, saying Benson is “promising to fix the exact thing her own family profited from.”
However, the new ad from Benson’s campaign contended James’ campaign was being bankrolled by data center companies and, as a congressman, he tried to “shove them down our throats.”
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(Staff writer Beth LeBlanc contributed.)
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This story was originally published September 13, 2026 at 2:14 PM.