By Michael Martz

MANASSAS — Abigail Spanberger, the Democratic nominee for governor, says she wants data centers “to pay their own way and their fair share” of rising electricity costs to serve them.

Her comments Wednesday came as state and local lawmakers grapple with how to regulate a fast-growing industry that boosts tax revenues for local governments but raises concerns for communities around them.

Spanberger brought her campaign to a training center here for union electricians to lay out her newly released plan for boosting jobs and protecting Virginia’s economy. Part of her plan is to lower the cost of energy, housing, child care and health care for working Virginians, but data centers put pressure on electricity rates because of the demand for power they create.

For example, Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative, which serves more than 180,000 customers in Prince William County and six other localities, has raised its rates twice this year to recover the additional costs of importing power because of data center demand for electricity.

The General Assembly rejected proposals to create special rates for data centers, but Dominion Energy, the state’s largest electric utility, is asking the State Corporation Commission to approve data center rates and contracts that the company says will ensure its other customers aren’t subsidizing data centers.

Spanberger, speaking to news media before her speech here on Wednesday, said she is closely following the proceedings at the SCC.

“I do think it’s important that the brunt of data centers not be put on ratepayers, and in fact that they pay their own way and their fair share,” she said.

The issue poses political challenges for Spanberger, who draws strong support from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and other trade unions that benefit from the work that data centers provide. The industry’s expansion in western Prince William County also faces public opposition and pending legal challenges because of data centers’ demand for power and their proximity to homes.

Spanberger initially released her “Growing Virginia Plan” at a campaign appearance in Suffolk on Tuesday. She focused on apprenticeship and other workforce development programs in her appearance at the training facility that IBEW Local 26 runs here for electricians learning their trade.

“I got my feet wet here,” said Culpeper electrician and town councilman Travis Brown, who spoke before Spanberger.

Apprenticeships and paid internships are part of Spanberger’s plan for training people for Virginia’s workforce, particularly in high-demand fields, but she also advocates other, politically contentious ways to support workers and their families, such as a $15-per-hour minimum wage, paid sick leave and access to affordable health care.

Her support for organized labor has drawn fire from Earle-Sears and other Republicans, who are pressuring Spanberger to support the state’s right-to work law, which forbids requiring workers in union-represented workplaces from having to join the union or pay dues as a condition of employment.

Spanberger reiterated her support for organized labor on Wednesday, but said, “I have been clear that I do not support full repeal of the right-to-work statute.”

She said she would consider proposed reforms of the law, including potentially allowing state employees to bargain collectively for labor benefits.

Chris Cash, business manager at IBEW 26, praised Spanberger for supporting union programs to train young people in skilled trades for jobs with union benefits.

“Abigail Spanberger has always made sure that Virginia workers have a seat at the table,” Cash said.

Spanberger’s economic plan also includes support for state economic development initiatives to attract business investment and new jobs. Those initiatives include the business-ready sites program that Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican closely allied with Earle-Sears, has pushed hard to make Virginia more competitive in landing projects that require large sites that are ready for development.

She also called for trade policies that boost the Port of Virginia and boost export of Virginia goods, such as agricultural products, and criticized President Donald Trump’s aggressive use of tariffs to force concessions by U.S. trading partners, which she said hurts Virginia’s economy and raises prices for consumers.

Spanberger also faulted Youngkin, a close political ally of the president, for not opposing Trump’s efforts to slash the federal workforce and spending, which she said have caused Virginia’s unemployment rate to increase for six consecutive months.

“How is it that we can attract business to Virginia if we have a governor who is demonstrating that when Virginia jobs are under attack, the governor is either nowhere to be found or excusing the job losses?” Spanberger said.