Last year, Susan Perry was concerned about data centers that had been announced in her home county of Logan and nearby Mingo.
So when she heard West Virginia Democrats were touring the state listening to the residents about their struggles, Perry saw an opportunity to voice her opinion when they made a stop in Gilbert.
At the Larry Joe Harless Community Center in October 2025, Perry pressed state Sen. Joey Garcia, D-Marion, the only member of the tour to vote in favor of a piece of legislation that supercharged data center development in West Virginia.
“I jumped up and grabbed the microphone and said I want to talk to Senator Garcia about this,” Perry said. “I want to ask this question about data centers, and you know, why you voted for it.”
She said he came right out to those gathered and said he didn’t know enough about it at the time and that his stance had changed.
During the 2025 session, Garcia joined fellow Democrat state Sen. Mike Woelfel, of Cabell County, and nearly all Senate Republicans voting in favor of a bill that largely prevents local communities from having any say over whether a data center can be developed in their backyards.
Instead, the state would handle all regulations for development — and suck up a good chunk of the tax money, too.
Garcia said promises of jobs, even though most are short-term construction work, and potential tax dollars for schools persuaded him to support the bill. But shortly after he returned from Charleston last year, the senator said constituents started talking to him.
“I’d call it grocery store politics,” he said. “I’m buying fruits and vegetables, or whatever else I might be looking at, and someone will come up to me and start talking about whatever issue.”
Data Centers have become a flashpoint across the state, with communities organizing against developments in Mingo, Berkeley, Mason and Tucker counties.
As he heard concerns, particularly about communities being stripped of local control, Garcia said he started researching how data centers affected other areas of the country. He learned data centers use massive amounts of water and drive up power costs.
Then he remembered being told when he started serving in office, “do what you think is right as long as you can explain it back home.”
Garcia said his constituents began asking him questions he couldn’t answer about why he voted for the legislation.
“I’m thinking to myself, ‘well, I don’t know that I believe that anymore. I have new information,’” Garcia said.
During the last session, Garcia introduced a bill to restore local control and increase tax revenue for local governments. He voted against a regulation bill that largely kept information hidden from the public.
“I can say that I was wrong, but that doesn’t mean just saying that and giving up,” Garcia said. “It means now trying to figure out how we fix it.”
Last week, Garcia took to social media to say he should’ve voted against the original data center bill.
No stranger to politics, Susan Perry served as a temporary family court judge and is married to a retired Logan County judge. She said the change in Garcia’s opinion is refreshing.
“He was very honest about it, and he was very open,” she said. “And we have sent him information since then, and I believe that he is reading and digesting that material and trying to do what he thinks is right.”
While Garcia might have had a change of heart, other lawmakers have continued to support data center development. Just last month, a group of Republican delegates optimistically reported on a trip they took to Washington, D.C., to “Data Center World,” an annual conference for the industry.
“Either you have to have people winning elections that are different from the ones that voted previously, or you have to have people that change their mind,” Garcia said. “That’s the only combination about how we can change that policy.”
For Perry, who has been involved in the fight against data centers coming to her area of the state, she’s not hopeful many lawmakers will have a road-to-Damascus moment regarding their vote in 2025.
“I’m hoping that voters are going to go to those candidates and say, ‘What’s your stance on this?’” she said. “I can support somebody who says no data centers. I can support someone who says I want reasonable guardrails around data centers, but I can’t support a candidate who just says, ‘Oh, this is okay, just hang on, and you’ll get some money out of this.’”
