My position on data centers is clear: PAUSE new data centers until we know what they'll do to our power bills, our water, and our farmland, and keep the decision with the communities that have to live with them. Shore families should not pay higher electric bills so Big Tech can profit.

I got here by doing the homework. Before hyperscale data centers became the issue they are on the Shore today, small scale data centers were already setting up in our Eastern Shore towns. You would never know they were there. That was my experience.

Since March of this year, HYPER scale data centers have become a critical issue for our Eastern Shore communities, the State of Maryland, and our entire country. This year I attended public meetings and industry meetings, listened to neighbors, and learned the full scope of what's at stake.

In March 2026, in the very early stages of the primary season, I completed a prominent candidate questionnaire that asked about data centers. I wrote my answer with small scale data centers in mind, not HYPER scale ones, because that was my experience at the time. I have since updated my answer on the organizer's website to make my position clear, without erasing what I originally wrote. I was not given the opportunity to update my printed responses after the primary, as is expected and customary. When I asked, the organizer sent me a print deadline that had passed a month and a half earlier. That was a tremendous disappointment to me personally.

Transparency is important, and so is the record. I have preserved my record. My opponent has erased his numerous times.

The sad truth is that promises get made at election time, and once the election is over, our representatives go right back to what they were doing before. My position is on the record, and it won't change after Election Day: pause new data centers, protect our power bills, our water, and our farmland, and put Shore families first

Katie Clendaniel
Candidate for Maryland State Senate, District 37