• Analysis
Midterms 2026: Data centres in Georgia put Coweta County residents on the campaign front lines
Opposition to AI data centres in Georgia has become a rallying issue on the 2026 midterm campaign trail, with Coweta County residents fighting the $17 billion Project Sail through lawsuits and a home rule petition ahead of the November 3 vote.
What began as a local zoning dispute in a county of about 146,158 people has grown into a campaign issue for the 2026 midterm elections. Opposition to data centres in Georgia is drawing supporters across party lines, and nowhere is that more visible than in Coweta County, where residents are fighting the Project Sail development through two lawsuits, a signature drive and a petition now before a probate judge.
Project Sail: the development next door
Quilliam Barber, a 67-year-old retired truck driver, lives in rural Coweta County with his wife Wilhemina. Their property abuts an 800-acre tract earmarked for a hyperscale data centre, in the Middle Chattahoochee River Basin, part of the wider Apalachicola Basin. Coweta County sits about 50 miles southeast of Atlanta.
Project Sail made headlines in early 2025 when the scale of the plan came to light. According to county filings, the scheme includes:
- •13 buildings, each covering 378,000 square feet, for a total of more than 4.9 million square feet
- •an estimated $17 billion investment
- •roughly 900 megawatts of electricity and 9 million gallons of water
Georgia has overtaken Northern Virginia as the country's top market for data centre construction, and Project Sail is just one of at least five planned data centres in the county.
Wilhemina Barber expects the project to change the quiet area the couple loves.
It's very quiet and peaceful out here. We love it, I love it, he loves it
A rezoning fight that went to court
In April, Coweta County commissioners approved a zone code revamp from 'rural conservation district' to industrial area by a narrow 3-2 vote. Ron Bockrath, an 83-year-old retired research scientist in Newnan in western Coweta County who leads the 'Protect Coweta: No Data Center Here' campaign, said the local population wanted nothing to do with the data centres and the way they were being forced upon residents.
His chief complaint at the meeting was the time given to opponents.
Twenty minutes was allowed for opposition, which isn't really very long, considering the magnitude of this project
Commissioner Alphonso Smith saw it differently. 'This is a no-brainer for the county. I will stake my political career on it.'
The developer is Prologis, a Fortune 500 company, and its senior vice president JC Witt told residents the outcome was settled either way. 'The question isn't if this site will be developed. It's just how.'
In May, Bockrath and neighbours including the Barbers filed two lawsuits in Coweta County court challenging the rezoning. The cases are ongoing.
The home rule petition drive
Alongside the court cases, the group Citizens for Rural Coweta launched a 'home rule petition' campaign. The mechanism, written into Georgia's Constitution, lets residents ask the county's court to amend or repeal a resolution. The bar is higher in larger jurisdictions: counties with a population above 50,000 must collect signatures from at least 10% of their registered voters.
On Friday, October 16, volunteers submitted boxes with more than 14,800 signatures to a county court. Bockrath said the drive drew crowds to signing venues.
There were miles, literally miles of backup traffic to come in and sign these things
Under Georgia's Constitution, the probate judge has 60 days after a petition is filed to determine whether it is valid. If it is found valid, an election must be held 60 to 90 days after filing.
Costs, politics and the November 3 vote
The concerns driving the Coweta fight reach well beyond one site. Bockrath argues that data centres' energy consumption would accelerate climate change. Nearby counties offer warnings: in Fayette County, many households face low water pressure, and some Newton County residents have been unable to drink murky, brown tap water.
The economics are disputed as well. The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis reports new data centres pushing utility bills up in at least 13 states, while a Bloomberg analysis found people living near such facilities paying up to 267% more a month for energy than five years ago. Bockrath lays responsibility with outgoing Republican Governor Brian Kemp, who has held the state's top post since 2019 and granted tax breaks and low electricity rates to many projects: 'he's been so pro-business that he's forgetting about the citizens.'
The politics are not straightforward. Coweta County is a traditionally Republican stronghold, yet opposition to data centres is drawing supporters across partisan divides ahead of the November 3 midterm elections. Bockrath describes himself as an independent who has voted 'both ways' in the past, and he declines to say how he will vote.
For now, the next step sits with the court: a Coweta County probate judge has 60 days from the October 16 filing to rule on the petition's validity, and if it is upheld, an election must follow within 60 to 90 days of filing.
