Fact check: John James’ link to data center tax breaks, donations

Attack ads suggests GOP governor candidate John James voted for data center tax breaks, is funded by data center developers
Dems point to James’ vote for Big Beautiful Bill, which had broad tax breaks that were not specific to data centers but benefited them
Donors with ties to data center industry have donated to various James campaigns, including gubernatorial run

As data centers continue to stir controversy across Michigan, related attacks are emerging in the governor’s race between Democrat Jocelyn Benson and Republican John James.

New online ads from Making Michigan’s Future, a group supporting Benson’s campaign, claims James voted for $70 billion in tax breaks for data centers as a member of the US House and has received more than $100,000 in campaign donations from data center developers.

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The donations claim is largely true, although some of those contributions to James were for his past campaigns for other offices. The claim that James voted for a $70 billion tax break for data centers is less straightforward.

The ads are among several that Bridge Michigan is fact-checking in the gubernatorial race, including claims about Benson’s family ties to a data center project. The general election winner will succeed Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who is term-limited.

Data center tax breaks

One recent online ad from Making Michigan’s Future, which is backed by the Democratic Governors Association, claims that James “voted to give data centers a $70 billion tax break.”

The ad cites an analysis from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), a left-leaning think tank, that said large tech companies like Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Tesla received a collective $50.8 billion in tax breaks in 2025, “likely from” President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

A second analysis from the think tank, published on Sept. 17, claims that Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft and Oracle received a total of $69.78 billion in tax breaks in 2025, although it isn’t clear how much was directly related to data centers.

In Congress, James voted for the “big, beautiful” law, which included provisions that increased tax write-offs for corporations making infrastructure and equipment investments.

While companies building data centers are eligible for those tax breaks, they aren’t exclusive to data centers, according to a separate analysis from the nonpartisan Tax Foundation. On Sept. 16, House Democrats introduced a bill that would bar data centers from claiming those tax breaks.

James voted for a law that “handed massive tax breaks to the Big Tech companies building data centers,” Sam Newton, a spokesperson for Making Michigan’s Future, said in a statement to Bridge Michigan. He cited ITEP and a Tax Notes analysis saying the write-off provisions could be “especially important” to data center developers.

“James can try to run from his record, but all Michiganders need to do is follow the money to see whose side he’s on,” Newton said.

In addition to the final bill, James voted for an earlier House version of the “big, beautiful bill” that included a section called the “Artificial Intelligence and Information Technology Modernization Initiative,” which would have barred state and local jurisdictions from creating laws to regulate data centers.

James has since changed his position on local regulations, saying he supports a moratorium on new data centers until additional regulations are established.

“The standards of my moratorium have been clear: no new data centers until we protect our people. We must re-establish local control, ensure no utility rate increases for residents, protect our water, air, land and noise from pollution while prioritizing brownfields and preserving farmland,” James told Bridge in a statement.

James did not answer a question about providing tax breaks to data centers. Benson’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment.

She too has proposed a moratorium on new data centers.

Data center-linked donations

Making Michigan’s Future is running a second ad on Facebook and Instagram that highlights political contributions from data center developers to James.

In a video, a narrator claims that “John James won’t stand up to data center corporations while he’s cashing their checks.” Text that appears in the video includes “James took over $100k from data center developers” and “John James won’t stand up for US.”

In July, Bridge Michigan found that James had received more than $100,000 in political contributions from donors with data center ties, although that figure is an accumulation from multiple election cycles dating back to 2018.

Many of those contributions came from members of the Rakolta family, who founded and run Walbridge, a Detroit-based construction company contracted to build the hyperscale data center facility in Saline. Michael Haller, Walbridge’s CEO, has also previously donated to James’ campaigns.

In January, Walbridge chair John Rakolta Jr. and his wife Terry Rakolta each donated $8,325 to James’ gubernatorial campaign, according to Michigan campaign finance records. $8,325 is the maximum allowed by an individual to a gubernatorial campaign in Michigan.

Rakolta is a longtime GOP booster and has also been a supporter of President Donald Trump, who he shared a stage with in 2024 during a Trump campaign stop in Detroit.

Bottom line

John James has received campaign donations from individuals with ties to data center developers in Michigan. While James didn’t vote specifically to give data centers a $70 billion tax break, he did vote for the “big, beautiful bill,” which broadened corporate tax breaks that data center developers have benefitted from.