By Jill Nolin | Editor
Gov. Brian Kemp was in Washington Thursday to sign President Trump’s voluntary pledge to keep consumers from shouldering the burden of the cost to build the data centers needed to support the growth of artificial intelligence.
The pledge comes as communities across the country push back against data centers amid concerns about their impact on electricity bills and water resources. Tech leaders and others have tried to tamp down those concerns.
“We cannot let China win this race, and that’s what some people want,” Kemp said Thursday.
Just this week, OpenAI announced it plans to build a $20 billion data center in Effingham County after Kemp met with representatives of the company and Georgia Power in May, The Current reported. And that wasn’t even the only data center project announced this week in Georgia, as the data center surge continues.
“We cannot let China win this race, and that’s what some people want,” Gov. Brian Kemp said at an event in Washington Thursday. He's seen here at a May press conference. Jill Nolin/Georgia Recorder
DATA CENTERS
By Amelia Twyman
President Donald Trump on Thursday announced the addition of Republican governors, legislators, utility services and tech companies into his voluntary pledge aimed at keeping data center construction and operation costs off the shoulders of American consumers.
The Ratepayer Protection Pledge, first signed by the president in March, requires companies that build and use data centers to pay for any new infrastructure upgrades and generation resources that serve them.
Tech giants Google, Microsoft, Meta, Oracle, xAI, OpenAI and Amazon all signed onto the initial pledge. Now, the measure is expanding to include nearly 200 more stakeholders, including multiple governors.
U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff speaks with reporters after qualifying to run for reelection in March at the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta. Alander Rocha/Georgia Recorder
2026 ELECTION
By Maya Homan
Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff is calling on his rival in Georgia’s U.S. Senate race, Republican Congressman Mike Collins, to be more transparent about the role a white nationalist and social media influencer allegedly had in his trucking business.
In a press briefing Thursday, Ossoff argued that Collins’ silence on the issue is “disqualifying” for a candidate seeking higher office.
Soldiers at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on July 22, 2026, carry Army 1st Lt. Tyler James Feehan, who died July 18, 2026, from injuries suffered during an enemy attack on July 17, 2026, at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base, Jordan. (Photo by Jason Minto/U.S. Air Force)
DC BUREAU
By Ashley Murray
One day after President Donald Trump attended the dignified transfer of the remains of four U.S. service members killed as a result of the Iran conflict, the two chambers of Congress were at odds over whether to rein in the president’s military powers in the monthslong war.
While members of the U.S. House approved a War Powers Resolution 214-208, with four Republicans joining all Democrats, lawmakers in the U.S. Senate rejected the measure by a slim margin of 47-49, though two senators who previously supported the measure did not vote.
News tips, feedback, question? Email us: [email protected]
ICYMI FROM THE RECORDER
Thanks for reading The Daily Record. Did you know our weekend digest is also free? Sign up here. And if you enjoyed today’s edition, please forward to a friend. Increasing our readership helps us cover more news.