Ohio Republican U.S. Rep. Max Miller has said he supports a state bill that would provide for local approval and regulation of data center development in Ohio. In 2025, however, he voted in the U.S. House of Representatives for a version of the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act budget package that would have blocked state and local governments from passing measures to regulate data centers.
Miller is seeking reelection in Ohio’s 7th Congressional District. He faces Democratic nominee Brian Poindexter, a union ironworker and member of the Brook Park City Council, in the Nov. 3 election.
“I am in full support of Ohio’s HB 983 as it requires large new or expanded Ohio data centers to obtain local voter approval, operate with closed-loop water systems and stringent environmental controls, pay for any water or environmental impacts they cause, generate their own electricity off-grid without imposing costs on Ohio ratepayers, disclose development agreements and chemical use, and forgo local tax incentives,” Miller wrote in an Aug. 10 post on X. “Ohioans deserve a say in their future. These common sense measures should be considered by the federal government.”
H.B. 983, the Data Center Accountability and Citizen Protection Act, is awaiting action in the Ohio Legislature.
In May 2025, however, Miller’s vote for the budget package helped it pass 215-214, with one abstention. That version of the bill contained a preemption provision — removed by the Senate and not included in the version signed in July by President Donald Trump — that would have prohibited states and localities from regulating AI data centers. The final version provided billions of dollars in tax cuts for big tech companies by allowing them to write off capital investments in the centers.
As in other states, large artificial intelligence companies have proposed several data center construction projects in Ohio. Those plans have been met with public outcry, as residents object to the environmental and economic damage large-scale data centers can bring to communities.
Poindexter’s campaign manager told the New Republic on Sept. 11 that the Democratic nominee “believes that while AI has the potential to make transformational scientific breakthroughs, we need to balance that against the risks it poses—especially when it comes to workers and the safety of children,” including establishing clear regulations to protect workers, communities, and natural resources.
According to MIller’s 2025 financial disclosure, filed Aug. 10, 2026, he owns more than $100,000 worth of stock in Elliott Associates LP, an investment fund that reportedly is heavily invested in data centers.
“Rep. Miller has a financial advisor that handles his investing portfolio. He is not involved in, nor aware of, where his money is invested,” a MIller spokesperson told the Ohio Independent in an emailed statement. “As far as AI data centers, as they have been rapidly growing so have the needs for updates. There is a clear need for them to be self sustained and not place any further burden the communities they inhabit.”
