TAMPA, Fla. — For years, the big political donors in Florida politics were a familiar group: the sugar industry, Disney, Publix and the like.

But in the 2026 election cycle, a new crop of would-be kingmakers has emerged connected to artificial intelligence as the industry works to turn Florida into a foothold.

Tens of millions of dollars have poured into Florida campaigns from companies with visions of transforming vast stretches of land in the state’s rural pockets into warehouses. Among the donors are billionaire investors, tech companies and utilities like Florida Power & Light, Duke Energy and Tampa Electric, which have always given big but now stand to profit from data centers’ hunger for electricity. Much of the pro-data center money has flowed to U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, the Republican front-runner for governor.

But a Tampa Bay Times analysis found he’s not the only one to receive their support. And of the roughly dozen high-profile proposals for data centers throughout the state, three stand out for how much their backers have invested into state politicians.

The state-level officials in this list aren’t responsible for those zoning and land use decisions, which fall to local governments. But they help set the agenda for how data centers will be regulated and accepted in Florida.

The state Legislature, for example, passed a law this year that set guardrails for data center companies but allowed them to continue signing non-disclosure agreements with public officials. The regulators who enforce that law — and decide how strictly data centers will bear their electricity costs — are all appointed by the governor.

Here are the projects linked to the most campaign contributions:

1. Project Tango in Palm Beach County

In about a year and a half, two companies behind the failed push to build a 200-acre data center campus in Palm Beach County called Project Tango contributed more than $1.2 million to state politicians, the Times found.

The company responsible for the majority of that money, a Tennessee construction firm called Phillips Infrastructure Corp., had largely stayed out of Florida elections previously, aside from two donations in 2018. The other, Palm Beach Aggregates, is a rock-mining company whose donations have been more consistent.

Executives from both formed PBA Holdings, which led the data center proposal. But a swell of backlash among locals led county officials to reject Project Tango on July 15.

The biggest beneficiary of the Project Tango donations was Donalds. His political committee received $350,000.

Donalds has become a darling of the AI industry, drawing millions in support from an industry super PAC, which prompted criticism from his rivals. A recent poll by the University of North Florida found that 68% of Floridians — across party lines — don’t want data centers in their communities.

Donalds has since tempered some of his support, introducing federal legislation that would require data centers to get their electricity and water from private sources. Several of his Republican opponents have accused him of shifting with the political winds and have instead called for a statewide data center moratorium.

“Byron Donalds has been very clear: no protections for ratepayers and Florida’s natural resources means no data centers,” wrote Gates McGavick, a spokesperson for the campaign, in an email. “He believes that Florida can lead the nation in technological innovation without asking Florida families to foot the bill.”

Neither Phillips Infrastructure nor Palm Beach Aggregates responded to emails or voicemails seeking comment.

The main political committee supporting Republicans in the state Senate has received $100,000 from Project Tango backers. Additionally, the companies gave $25,000 to another committee in October called Panhandle Prosperity that has only funneled money to the same Senate Republican PAC since then.

That committee is led by Sen. Jim Boyd, R-Bradenton, who’s the incoming Senate president. He didn’t respond to text messages asking about the contributions.

Senate Republicans have also received thousands in in-kind contributions, like having their lodging, travel, food and “entertainment” paid for by Phillips Infrastructure, records show. State documents don’t include details on where the politicians traveled or what the company bought them.

The Project Tango companies also donated to a long list of other state lawmakers’ campaigns, including $5,000 to Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco, who is running for Senate as a Republican.

Nocco’s campaign didn’t respond to messages left with the treasurer of his political committee.

2. Martin County data center proposals

A short drive north from the Palm Beach County project is Indiantown in Martin County, where multiple companies are jockeying to build a data center. One New Jersey firm, Ferreira Construction, has given more than half a million dollars through company accounts and its executive, Nelson Ferreira.

Neither had ever donated anything close to these amounts before in state elections.

Donalds received $500,000, while another $30,000 went to the political committee for Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia, who’s running to keep his job.

But Ferreira withdrew his proposal for the data center earlier this year, according to TCPalm.

When asked about the contributions, Ingoglia’s campaign manager, John Wallace, referred a reporter to Ingoglia’s recent comments saying large-scale data centers don’t belong in Florida.

“They want our tax dollars. They want our energy. They want our water, then they want our labor,” Ingoglia said at a news conference. “All so they can create AI to take all of our jobs. I don’t get it.”

Ferreira Construction didn’t respond to emails seeking comment.

Other proposals are still active. Town officials voted in May to rezone about 5,700 acres owned by Florida Power & Light for possible data center development.

Florida Power & Light is one of the state’s most prolific campaign donors. The utility and its parent company, NextEra Energy, have contributed more than $5 million this election cycle, according to the Times analysis.

Andrew Sutton, a spokesperson for the utility, noted that the rezoning vote did not approve any specific project.

“What was established is the community’s ability to set the terms for whatever comes next,” Sutton said in an email. If a data center opened there, it would fall under the utility’s large load rate structure, he said, which requires data center companies to “fund 100% of the cost of new power generation required.”

3. St. Lucie County data center

Also on Florida’s east coast is another project called Sentinel Grove, whose developer has donated more than $230,000 to Florida politicians this cycle.

That level of giving represented a significant escalation for the Texas company, Timberline Real Estate Partners. The Sentinel Grove data center would span about 1,200 acres over former citrus groves.

The local planning board recommended against the proposal, prompting the developer to withdraw its application. Local officials, however, told TV news station WPBF that the proposal could come back.

Timberline has donated at least $35,000 to a political committee called Honest Leadership, which has disbursed money to a number of politicians since then, making the eventual destination difficult to track. One of its recipients has been Attorney General James Uthmeier.

Timberline Real Estate has also given at least $28,000 to Uthmeier directly, plus at least $34,000 to Donalds.

“We appreciate donations from anyone who believes James should continue his historic work as Florida’s Attorney General,” said Kayla Little, a spokesperson for Uthmeier’s campaign, in a statement. “He’s breaking records for prosecutions, holding bad corporate actors such as OpenAI accountable, and delivering the highest return on investment of any state agency.”

Timberline did not respond to emails seeking comment.

Honorable mention: Fort Meade, Polk County

Maryland company Stonebridge Development is working to build a 1,300-acre data center in the small Polk County town of Fort Meade, whose City Council approved the project.

A corporation registered to the same address as Stonebridge, called Fort Meade LLC, donated $10,000 to Donalds.

It also contributed $31,500 to an ambiguous political committee, People for Honor Project, which has yet to make any contributions to candidates.

Stonebridge did not respond to two voicemails seeking comment.

This is the first Florida election cycle in which Fort Meade LLC or Stonebridge Development has written any checks. The project has hit a snag over its water use, which must be approved by the local water management district.

The members of the water management board are all appointed by the governor.

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