Illinois’ 26th Senate District race features competing approaches to data-center regulation, while a national survey found Democrats more concerned than Republicans about potential effects on electricity prices and water supplies.
Democratic state Rep. Nabeela Syed is challenging Republican state Sen. Darby Hills in the 26th Senate District. Syed’s campaign platform calls for data centers to disclose energy use, water consumption and noise impacts, and says companies driving electricity demand should cover the cost. “The cost of data centers should not be showing up in our electricity bills,” Syed says on the platform.
Hills introduced SB4206 on May 18, 2026. The bill would let counties and municipalities set data-center construction and siting standards, including rules on water and noise, and require a public hearing before a siting decision.
Hills filed a data-center floor amendment to SB1050 on May 20. The amendment would bar a county or municipality from allowing a data center within three miles of another municipality’s corporate boundary without that municipality’s prior written consent. The existing bill originally concerned a technical change to the Economic Development Project Area Tax Increment Allocation Act. SB4206’s latest listed action was referral to Assignments; the SB1050 amendment’s latest listed action was referral back to Assignments on July 2. General Assembly records do not list either proposal as enacted.
A survey by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and the University of Chicago’s Energy Policy Institute (EPIC) found that 70% of Democrats and 58% of Republicans were extremely or very concerned about data centers’ effects on local electricity prices. For water supply, the figures were 67% and 49%. The survey of 3,424 U.S. adults ran July 6-24, 2026. Overall, 73% supported requiring data centers to pay for electric-grid upgrades, with support at roughly eight in 10 among Democrats and Republicans. The poll measured public views; it did not establish local price or water effects in the district.
The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) said it stopped processing new applications for the state’s data-center incentive program on July 1, 2026, under a June 5, 2026, directive from Gov. JB Pritzker. The program offered qualifying facilities state and local tax exemptions, plus a 20% construction-wage credit for projects in underserved areas. Voters will decide the 26th District race Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026.
