EXCLUSIVE: Byron Donalds Threads The Needle On Data Centers, Backs Tough Action On Flock

Republican Rep. Byron Donalds, the GOP’s nominee for Florida governor, detailed his positions on data centers and backed tougher action on Flock surveillance cameras during an exclusive interview with the Daily Caller’s editor-in-chief, Amber Duke.

The potential heir to outgoing Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, Donalds sailed through his Republican primary earlier in August and will take on Democrat David Jolly in the November election. In an exclusive interview released Friday, Duke pointed to Jolly’s call for a statewide, one-year moratorium on data center construction and asked how Donalds would approach the issue instead. (RELATED: DeSantis Moves To De-Flock State Highways)

“If a local community doesn’t want a data center, then local governments don’t have to permit it. The state is not going to preempt them. It’s actually in state law that we will not preempt local government,” Donalds said.

“When it comes to energy and electricity bills, we are very clear in our state that a data center is not going to raise the utility costs of Floridians. That we are a regulated utility state. Any utility increases have to be approved by our Public Service,” Donalds continued.

The GOP candidate added that he wants to make sure data centers recycle the water they already intake, using a closed-loop filtration system or even relying on wastewater, and does not want them built near residential neighborhoods.

“My position is, if you’re not going to protect our resources and you’re not going to protect people’s utility bills, then no data centers. But local governments have the final say in Florida.”

Duke also asked Donalds about the other big tech debate gripping the country: Flock surveillance cameras. (RELATED: Local Hero Barry The Beekeeper Electrifies The Room With Anti-Flock Speech At Council Meeting)

“My number one concern is the privacy of people,” Donalds told the Daily Caller. “The Fourth Amendment is not up for debate on this. We can’t have camera systems where the information is just being stored … We’ve already seen abuses, unfortunately, where people were using it to spy on their girlfriend or spy on their ex-husband.”

Donalds said law enforcement will need to be held accountable for Flock abuses, and that he supports DeSantis’ latest actions against the surveillance cameras that dot Florida’s state highway system.

“I support what the governor did. I think if you ever had a future conversation about this, it would have to first start with Fourth Amendment protections for the people of our state. It is a requirement under our constitution,” Donalds said.

“We don’t want to have people feeling like they’re being surveilled by some private company or even being surveilled by their government,” he added. “That’s not going to take place in our state.”